


A Fine Gray Dust

by Geonn



Category: Original Work
Genre: Cowboys & Cowgirls, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemy Lovers, F/F, First Time, Friends to Enemies, Oklahoma, Partner Betrayal, Romance, Train Sex, Trains, Western
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-27
Updated: 2014-05-27
Packaged: 2018-01-26 19:17:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 35
Words: 81,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1699589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geonn/pseuds/Geonn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>1907. Sheriff Anna Macy is still trying to emerge from the shadow of her father when a group of criminals begin targeting her town. The leader of the thieves, Sarah Lucas, has vowed to kill Anna, but soon finds herself falling for the other woman as they get to know one another. Facing the wrath of her gang if she fails to deliver on the sheriff's death, threatened by what Anna will do if she discovers Sarah's true identity, Sarah is forced to decide what she's willing to risk for love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

  
**PART I**

THE SECRET IN YOUR EYES

"It's a long way to Heaven, it's closer to Harrisburg  
And that's still a long way from the place where we are  
And if evil exists, it's a pair of train tracks  
And the devil is a railroad car.  
\- Josh Ritter, Harrisburg

**Chapter One,**

Sheriff Anna Macy kept her head down, the brim of her hat protecting her face from the dirt blowing past her. She spurred her horse faster, and he chuffed in response. If Macy hadn't known better, she would have said Harlequin was more eager to catch up than she was. The reins were wrapped around one wrist, leaving her other hand free for her weapon. 

Ahead of her, four horses were spread across the landscape, their riders hunched to make smaller targets as they headed for the trees. Macy stayed focus on the one bringing up the rear, the slender red shirt of the gang's leader. His tan hat was pushed back on his head, and he never once stopped to see if she was gaining on them. The leader's horse was distinctive, jet black except for a spattering of white on it's face that made it look as if it wore a mask as well.

Macy could feel the sweat pooling in the small of her back, forming a film between her skin and shirt, and twin beads ran down either side of her face. One of the criminals ahead shouted an order and all four horses turned off the road to cross a field. Macy saw a stand of trees and knew they planned to lose her in them.

She clicked her tongue to Harlequin, moving to intercept them before they could get to cover. It was only pure dumb luck that she'd caught sight of them on their way out of town. The four masked outlaws, guns hanging heavy on their hips and saddle bags riding low. Macy had time to shout a single warning before one outlaw opened fire on her. That was twenty minutes ago, and she wasn't about to let them get away now.

Macy rode across the field and Harlequin put in an extra burst of speed to close the distance between her and the masked robbers. Macy leveled her weapon and fired twice. Two of the outlaws, the two closest to her, pulled on their reins and spun their horses to return fire. That was exactly what Macy wanted them to do; if they were turned to face her, they couldn't get to the safety of the woods.

"Drop your weapons!" Macy shouted, still riding toward them at full speed. 

The thieves opened fire instead. Macy reared Harlequin and pulled back. One of the other thieves shouted, "Come on, we don't have time for this!"

The two men turned their horses back toward the woods. Macy said, "C'mon, Harley." She focused on the horse with the heaviest bags, presuming that meant it carried the bulk of their loot. She pushed Harlequin harder, hearing the horse's breathing even above the pounding of his hooves. When she was close enough, she reached out and grabbed the saddlebag. She pulled up on the reins and Harlequin skittered to a stop. As the thief kept riding, the saddlebag was torn away and came loose in Macy's hand. She wasn't able to keep hold of it, so she let it fall to the ground as she clicked her tongue and pushed Harlequin after them.

"Lucas, she got my bag!"

The red-shirted leader, already in the woods, spun around and fired blindly. Macy dropped forward, pressed against Harlequin's neck, and lifted up to fire back. She was nearly out of bullets, and there would be no reloading. She had to make the last two bullets count. Red started back toward the fallen bag, but Macy fired before he got there. The dirt kicked up and Red pulled his horse back. 

One bullet left. Red hunched his shoulders and reluctantly rode away from the fallen saddlebag. Macy suddenly realized that Red's repositioning had put her between the leader and his men. She was surrounded on all sides. She quickly spun Harlequin in time to see one of the thieves leveling his weapon at her head. Her heart seized, her arm came up out of pure instinct, and she pulled her trigger and used the final bullet.

The thief caught the bullet high in the chest and was thrown backward. He managed to pull his trigger as he tumbled from his horse, and Macy felt the bullet lift her hair as it passed. The thief hit the ground hard, and his horse fled into the darkness of the woods. 

The air was suddenly filled with the sound of gunfire, and Macy was completely unarmed. She pulled back on Harlequin's reins, turning him in retreat. She slipped one of her feet from the stirrups as she passed the saddlebag, kicking it and letting it hang off her boot as she continued back toward the road. A few more cracks of gunfire, like pinecones exploding in a campfire, and then the thieves were gone. Macy waited until she got to the road before she risked looking back.

The field was empty, unnaturally peaceful despite what had just happened there. The man she'd hit was lying a few feet away from the safety of the woods. She took the saddlebag off her foot and carried it as she rode across the field to where he was laying. He was writhing on the grass, one hand pressed to his shoulder as a pool of red slowly grew across his shirt. His gun was out of reach on the left, even if he'd been able to move his arm to grab it, and Macy climbed off Harlequin to grab it.

"I'm gonna get you a doctor," she said, even though she knew it was already too late.

The man just grunted and arched his back in pain. Macy tucked his gun into the back of her belt and crouched next to him. She wanted to see how badly he'd been hit, but she knew he wouldn't move his hand. Instead, she tugged down the bandana that covered his face. "You got a name?" she asked.

He exhaled sharply, puffing out his cheeks as he stared into the sky.

"I just wanna know. If the worst happens. I wanna know who you belong to."

"Wanna make amends? Gimme back to my folks?"

Macy hesitated for only a moment before she nodded. "That's about right."

The man turned his head and spit on her boot. "Suffer," he said.

He grunted a few more times, eyes shut tight with pain, and soon he lay completely still. Macy stayed with him until he was gone, the least she could do for the man, and then pushed herself up and walked back to the saddlebag she'd picked up. She pushed it open and saw bundles of cash. She picked up one and looked at the markings on the wrap. From the National Bank of Tulsa, which meant the money was part of the town's payroll. She dropped the money back into the bag and fastened it to Harlequin's saddle.

The only blanket she had would smell terrible, but the anonymous thief was beyond caring. Macy shook it out and draped it over the man's body. She weighted down the sides with stones and hesitated with her hands on her hips. She'd never been the religious type, never been one to suggest prayer. But she figured a thief killed in the process of stealing from honest, hard-working people would need all the help he could get.

"Whatever led you to this moment," she said, taking off her hat, "I hope you made right with it before you died. I hope you made peace with yourself and your god, whoever it might be. Hope he'll take pity on you for what you did, and for me... being the one who did this to ya."

She placed her hat back on her head, scanned the woods to see if any of his friends had come back for him, and walked to where Harlequin was grazing. She waited until the horse was finished; they had a long ride back to town ahead of them.

#

Sarah Lucas ignored the Clark and Joe both cursing at what had happened. She didn't stop until she was certain the sheriff wasn't following them; the woods were thick, but it wouldn't take a trained hunter to follow three people on horseback through the growth. When she was finally convinced they were safe, she stopped next to a creek and turned to face the men coming up behind her. She pulled down her mask and both men started talking at once. She held up a hand to shut them up. "I already know what y'all are going to say, so you can save it." 

"My brother, Lucas!" one of them said.

"Thanks for refreshing my memory, Clark," Sarah said. "Wasn't a thing we could have done back there without getting ourselves pinched. You both know that. Jack would have wanted us to get away. Would have cursed us with his dying breath if we'd tried to rescue him. So you just save your whining. How much did we lose?"

The two men, still steaming, turned and checked their saddlebags. Sarah checked her own and finished counting as the men gave their reports.

Marcus took the combined amount and said, "I figure about twelve hundred was in Jack's bags."

Sarah grimaced. That was a big chunk to lose but, then again, they split up Jack's portion among everyone else. Not the worst thing in the world, and certainly better than losing all of it. She fastened her bag again and pulled her mask back up. "All right. Let's get this back to camp. We'll have time to mourn Jack then."

"What about that sheriff?" Clark said. "What are we gonna do about her?"

Sarah looked back through the trees, half expecting the damned woman to appear again. "You let me worry about the sheriff, Clark. She may have killed your brother, but she took one of my men and she cost me money. That cannot stand."

#

Roman, Oklahoma, was a gem of a town nestled between two sprawling hills. It was started as a way station between Reno City and Indian Territory, originally consisting of just a trading post and a watering hole where people could rest their horses and get a nip of something for the rest of their journey. Before long, houses began to crop up along with other businesses. Within a few years of the first horse passing between the hills, the town was already alive and booming.

Macy followed the main road into town, knowing what she would find even as she came around the corner. Half the town's residents were gathered in front of the bank, their voices echoing off the brick of the surrounding buildings. A few people on the fringes of the crowd saw her and they moved to block her way as a single entity, shouting questions. The tone was angry, wondering where she was hiding when the entire town's payroll had been stolen. 

Macy held up her hands for silence and said, "I saw the thieves on their way out of town, and I gave chase. I managed to take one of them out, but the other three got away. I managed to save some of the money." She tossed the saddlebag to the banker at the front of the crowd. "It's not much, but we're going to get the rest of it back as soon as we can. For now I'm gonna have to ask you people to give me a little room to work."

The mob reluctantly dispersed, and Macy rode through them like she was royalty. A few people actually thanked her for managing to retrieve as much of the money as she had, and she dipped her thanks in acknowledgement as she rode to the police station. Her deputy, Henry Rucker, stood on the top step and moved down the road as she approached. 

"Nearly got 'em," she said as she dropped to the ground.

"Should've been with you."

"Didn't have time to call you out," she said. "Don't worry about it. Having two people there would have just added to the confusion. What was the take?"

"Supposed to be three thousand coming in today. Depending on how much you got back, could be some people hurting really soon."

Macy sighed. "We'll get back what else we can. I want to get the doctor out there to take care of the body before some wild animal takes it away. You and me can search the woods for signs of the other three."

Henry followed her into the police station. The shades were down, giving the main room a dusty yellow pallor. Macy's desk was to the left of the door, tucked into a corner without any doors. Henry had a desk farther back from the door, near the cells that took up the back half of the ground floor. Macy stretched her arms as she went around her desk and took out a box of bullets.

As she reloaded her gun, she said, "Heard one of 'em say the name Lucas."

Henry scoffed and then realized she was telling the truth. "Your Daddy killed Daniel Lucas four years ago."

Macy shrugged. "Didn't look like Lucas. Way too small. Could be a son we never knew about. Hid out for a while 'til he was old enough to cause trouble just like his daddy did. Maybe this was just a test run for something bigger."

Henry hooked his thumbs in his belt and shook his head. "Really hope you just misheard, Sheriff. Either that or... well. You know. Lucas is a real popular name. Could just be a coincidence."

Macy managed a smile at that. She closed her drawer and put her gun back in the holster. She took the gun she'd taken off the corpse and locked it in a steel box behind her desk. 

"Get ready to go. I'm going to get the doctor and we'll head out."

"Sure thing, Sheriff," Henry said.

Macy glanced at the picture hanging between the corner and the window, the only photograph her father had ever allowed to be taken of him. He'd always been a stern man, and the picture captured that. His white hair was swept perfectly back against his skull and his beard - black on the sides with a puff of gray around the mouth - he cut an imposing figure. Most people didn't notice his eyes were cast slightly to the left of the camera, aimed toward the ground. And she knew that only she noticed that his mouth was curled in the smallest of smiles under his beard.

She still remembered sitting on a wooden stool behind the photographer, her stern Daddy standing tall and rigid while he waited for the picture to be taken. He glanced toward her, and she stuck her tongue out at him. Seconds after the picture was taken, Sheriff Alexander Macy had burst into a laugh that nearly shook the windows. He had scooped her up in his arms and said, "What am I going to do with you?"

Anna Macy, now sheriff herself after a stray bullet clipped her father in the back of the head, pushed away from her desk and went out to make sure Harlequin was ready for another ride. Nearly twenty years later, she still didn't have an answer to her father's question.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two,**

Macy and Henry did their best to search the woods with a posse of willing townspeople, but any signs of the thieves vanished before they went anywhere. The town barber loaned them his hound dog, but the trail crossed a stream and the dog began moving in circles. Macy finally gave up when the sun began going down and she led the search party back to the clearing where Doc Merritt was finishing up his work. 

The dead man was respectfully wrapped in a white sheet and placed in the back of a wagon for the ride back to town. Doc ran a hand over his curly white hair and walked over to Macy and Henry. "Can't say as I recognize him. You'll probably want to let the newspaper take a photo or two, see if he's anyone's kin. Beyond that, I don't see how you're gonna get a name to bury him under."

"We'll do what we can," Henry said. "All anyone can ask of us."

Macy looked back toward the woods. "Well, there's someone who knows who he is. I reckon they'll be coming into town eventually to make up for what happened out here. I'll ask them his name when they show up."

Henry laughed. "Just like that?"

Macy smiled. "I imagine there'll be a bit of persuasion on my part, but for the most part... yeah. Just like that." She scanned the woods again for any sign of movement, any divine inspiration for where the other three might have gotten away to. She finally shook her head; they weren't going to make any progress tonight. "All right, Henry. We're not going to get that money back tonight. Saddle up and lead the way back to town."

They went back to their horses and Macy led the group of townspeople back to town. They were a downtrodden bunch, no one speaking or looking at one another. Half the people around her had lost their paychecks. That meant food on the table, maybe even their home. She couldn't help but feel like that failure was her fault. No one had said as much since her first appearance in town after the robbery, and none of the people present seemed to blame her, but she still could feel their eyes burning into her back. She clicked her tongue and spurred Harlequin forward until she was alongside Doc Merritt's wagon.

He glanced over as she approached but then focused on the road. 

"Heard Daniel Lucas might be haunting us again."

Macy groaned. "Henry's got a big mouth."

"Wasn't him," Doc said. "Couple of people at the bank heard the robbers shouting at each other. Name Lucas came up a few times."

"I'm sure no one thought of the most likely scenario," she said. She looked over at him and, when she saw his blank expression, explained. "Someone is trying to use Daniel Lucas to scare us. Throwing his name around while they're stealing our payroll so we're all too busy shaking in our boots to act reasonable. Daniel Lucas is dead, but we're gonna catch the bastards who stole from us."

She rode ahead of the group, taking the lead for the ride back home.

#

Sarah rode back into the village with Clark and Joe riding behind her. Everyone had gathered in anticipation of a big haul, but spirits began to dampen as soon as they got a good look at Sarah's face. A large man with broad shoulders, the muscle of his youth turned to a spare tire around his gut, stepped out of the crowd. His hair was black on top and gray at the temples, and he eyed the three survivors as he stepped up to Sarah's horse.

"Hello, Bandit." He fixed his cold stare on her. "Sarah."

"Deacon," she said. He looked at Clark and Joe in a way that told her he was only seeing who wasn't there. 

After a long silence spent checking on Bandit, he finally sighed and asked the question on everyone's mind. "What happened?"

"The damned sheriff happened," she said. "Came riding up on us before we were even out of town. Got into a scuffle at the edge of the woods. She took out Jack, managed to take his bag."

Deacon said, "So we lost a chunk of our payday."

"Better than the folks back in Roman who lost three-quarters of it," she said. "Without Jack, everyone's getting a bigger share anyway. It evens out."

"For everyone except Jack," Clark reminded her. "You just rode off and left my brother lying there in the dirt, Lucas."

She walked to his horse and said, "I go back, sheriff grabs me. That what you want?"

Clark looked away from her, chewing the inside of his cheek. 

Deacon was already taking the saddlebag off Bandit. "Go get some grub. Diana made stew tonight. I'll get this divvied up and let you know how we made out."

Sarah nodded and took off her hat, letting the crowd part in front of her. Normally a successful job resulted in a hero's welcome. Not this time, not when she'd left one of their own lying in the dirt. No one reached out to shake her hand or pat her on the back, and they seemed eager to avoid eye contact. That was fine by her; the less she had to do tonight, the better. 

She kept her head down as she headed for her house. The placed she'd called home for her entire life was all that remained of a ghost town that popped up not long after the Land Run. The people who put up the houses and built the businesses had moved on to other, more successful homesteads and left the town to be reabsorbed back into nature. The forest started moving in and, soon, the town had vanished into the darkness. Her father, Daniel Lucas, was the one who stumbled over the remnants and took it over for himself and his gang.

Her house was the farthest from the trail, surrounded on all sides by thick shrubbery and tall trees that provided cover even at noon. What it lacked in beauty it more than made up for in privacy, something she prized even on the best of days. She kicked the door closed behind her and dropped her hat on the nearest horizontal object.

At least no one had made a big deal about how Daniel would never have left someone behind. Daniel wasn't that kind of leader. She undid the top two buttons of her shirt and looked around the main room. She flexed her fingers and closed her eyes, hearing her father's voice in her head.

 _"Another cracking job, Sah-rah,"_ he said, slurring her name. _"You practicing to do that bad? You can admit it. I'll be impressed. You gotta try to be that bad."_

Sarah grabbed a chair and hurled it at the far wall with a shout. When it hit, she put her foot under the edge of the coffee table and kicked. It flipped over, sending a pitcher of water to the floor. It shattered, and she picked up the chair she had thrown earlier. She lifted it over her head and hit it against the floor until two legs broke off, and she threw the rest of it toward the door. The chair fell apart and she stood in the middle of the mess and tried to catch her breath. She wished she had more stuff just so she had more to destroy.

Even though she hadn't actually seen Jack get hit, she could imagine it clearly enough. His back arching, the spray of blood as the bullet exited his chest. His grimace of pain as he fell from his horse. 

She took her gun from the holster and checked the bullets. Her breathing was ragged, blowing out her cheeks and flaring her nostrils with each exhale. She went to the counter and started to yank out drawers, dumping them on the ground when she didn't find what she wanted. Finally, she found the box of ammunition and reloaded her gun. Her fingers trembled.

 _"What the hell you think you're gonna hit if you're shaking like a kitten?"_ her old man barked again. _"Probably shoot yourself in the damned head."_

She snapped the wheel back into the gun and holstered the weapon. She untucked her shirt and tossed it onto the floor, going into the bedroom just long enough to find something more appropriate. More feminine. She had one shirt with a lace collar, the sleeves of which billowed out above the cuffs. She hated it, but it would be perfect for her needs. She pulled it on, still buttoning it as she left her house.

Deacon was halfway down the path to her house when she left it. He paused as she stepped off the porch, wisely moving out of her way as she stormed past. He opened his mouth to speak, but wisely decided to stay silent when he saw her expression.

"Need a horse," she said.

"Bandit's had a--"

"Not Bandit. I need someone else's horse. One we didn't use today."

Deacon said, "Whippoorwill is aching for a ride." She brushed past him without acknowledgement, her hands up and working her hair into a different style. "Where you going? We haven't split up the take yet."

Sarah didn't turn, but she answered his question. "I need to finish today's business."

#

Henry snapped his fingers and Macy lifted her eyes to him. He smiled in that irritatingly charming way he had and nodded at the clock she was staring at. "You trying to stop that thing from moving, or...? 'Cause I've tried moving it forward with my eyes. I can save you a lot of time and tell you it won't work."

Macy rubbed her eyes and dropped her feet off the edge of the desk. "Ah, I'm just delaying the inevitable. Don't wanna go home."

"I'm eager to get there. See my boy, crawl in bed with my wife and put this day behind me. Thought you'd feel the same."

"As long as the day ain't over, it can still get better."

Henry grinned. "That's one way of looking at it, sure. Guess that's why they made you the sheriff."

Macy scoffed. "Yeah. Ignorance and blind optimism is a real selling point." She stretched and ran a hand through her hair. "Get out of here, Henry. I'm just stewing in my own misery. You go home to your boy, your wife, and that better tomorrow. You deserve all three of 'em."

"I'll see you in that better tomorrow, Sheriff," he said.

"I admire your naivety."

Henry chuckled and took his hat from the rack as he headed out the door. As soon as he was gone, silence descended on the front room like a shadow from a dying campfire. Macy looked at the clock again, but all it did was continue marching forward. If she waited any longer to head out, she would end up sleeping on a cot in one of the cells. The mayor tended to frown on that and she had given him enough reasons to take her badge today.

She finally pushed herself out of her chair and turned out the lanterns. She left the sheriff's office, making sure the lock was thrown, and scanned the street of town. No one called to their friends, and there was no drunken singing from the bar. The restaurants were lit, but no one was hanging around the entrance waiting for a table. With the majority of people in town going home without a paycheck there was very little to celebrate in Roman.

Harlequin had been fed and brushed, courtesy of Marcus Teller. He was a ten-year-old caught stealing from the general store whose punishment required him to do odd jobs for the police department. She climbed onto the saddle and rode quickly to the road out of town. So far no one had blamed her for the robbery. She'd obviously done everything she could to stop the thieves but, in the end, it just hadn't been enough. She didn't understand how being a failure was supposed to be better than just being useless. In her mind, they amounted to the same thing.

When she got out of the town proper, she slowed Harlequin to a casual pace. In the shadows between Roman and her home, the shadows were deep and impenetrable, well suited to her frame of mind. She kept seeing the leader of the group, the red shirt on a black horse. There was no way it could have been Daniel Lucas. She had seen his dead body with her own two eyes. 

Her father and the mayor had tried to keep her out of the room, but curiosity got the better of her. She slipped down the hall of the police station, listening to their voices and trying to time her footsteps with the louder words. When she reached the end of the hall, she pressed her ear to the door and listened. 

"Damn fine day," the mayor said. "Far too long coming."

Her father said something she couldn't understand, and she turned the doorknob. The door swung open, and the two living men turned to face her. Doc Merritt tugged the blanket up over the body, but not before she saw what she needed to see. Daniel Lucas, lying on the wooden table at the far side of the room. His skin was blue-gray, and it made the stubble on his cheeks and chin stand out like ash on freshly fallen snow. His eyes were open a slit, and his lips hung slack. His chest was a bloody ruin.

She remembered what she said to her father: "Good work, Daddy."

And she remembered his response even better. He had reached out and slapped her across the face. It wasn't the first time he'd lifted a hand to her, and far from the hardest she'd ever been hit. But she could still feel the sting all these years later. She tightened her grip on the reins and focused on the road.

Her house was up ahead; black against the dark blue of the sky. The stars were scattered overhead and she tilted her chin up to scan the familiar constellations. She knew most of them had names, but there was no fun in learning the official words. She liked making up her own names.

She was nearly to the house when she became aware of someone on the porch. She slowed Harlequin and moved her hand to the butt of her gun. "You might wanna light a lantern or something before I decide to shoot first and ask questions later."

"Sorry," a woman said. "I only have so much oil and I didn't want to run out before you came home." There was a squeak of metal, and a flame sparked to life. The glow spread quickly, revealing a tall, slender woman with straight black hair. She lifted the lantern so Macy could see her face and said, "Sorry to bother you at home, as well. I just didn't want to go all the way into town and I figured you'd be home earlier..."

"Had a bit of a bad day," Macy said. "You should have come into town."

"Sorry," the woman said again. "I just didn't want to make a big deal, I mean, I didn't want to bother you and now... oh, shoot. I'm sorry. I'm so damned nervous."

Macy dropped to the ground near the porch. She guided Harlequin to the back of the house where his stable was. "What can I do for you, Miss...?"

"L-Lamb," she said. "My name is Sarah Lamb. See, what it is... My horse got stolen today. At first I thought he'd just gotten loose, but now... I don't know. I thought I should see if anyone had found a horse wandering on their property."

"What does it look like?" 

"Black, but with a spot of white over his eyes."

Macy stopped walking. "When did it disappear?"

"Earlier today. Around breakfast time, I suppose."

Macy sighed and said, "Ms. Lamb, I think I know who has your horse, but I'm afraid getting it back won't be that easy. I think you should come inside so we can have a talk."

Sarah smiled and, in the meager light from the lantern, Macy thought there was something sinister in the expression. She shook her head; the dark can do strange things to a person's mind. "Let me get my horse settled and then I'll take you inside."

"No problem," Sarah said. "Take your time, Sheriff."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three,**

Sarah followed the sheriff into her house and scanned the front room. She'd been waiting long enough that she knew there was no husband waiting for her to arrive, but it never hurt to check. The house was split down the middle, separating the space into two sections. The living room was on the left side of the house, fronting the kitchen. The bedroom door was to the right, and she could see the outhouse through the back door. 

She'd found the house by accident almost three weeks earlier. She and Deacon had been scouting, figuring out what schedule the payroll delivery kept, when Deacon spotted the sheriff riding toward them. They went off the road to set up and ambush, but Sarah made Deacon stand down when the sheriff continued riding north. Sarah followed at a distance to keep an eye on the woman to see where she was going, and eventually watched her guide her appaloosa into the stable and go into the house. She'd filed the information away in case she ever needed it, and the day had finally arrived.

Sarah shut the front door behind her as Macy went through the living room to the kitchen. Sarah reached back and untucked the tail of her blouse over the gun tucked into the back of her belt. Macy unfastened her gun belt and dropped it and onto the dinner table as she walked past. She also took off her hat, leaving it on the kitchen counter.

"I'm afraid I have bad news for you, Ms. Lamb. I saw your horse today."

"That sounds like good news to me."

"It wasn't under the best of circumstances."

Macy took a jug of water from the icebox and poured it into the sink basin. She loosened her blonde hair and let it fall before she dipped her hands into the water. Her back was to the room, so Sarah reached back and felt the butt of her gun. She waited for Macy to speak again, but the sheriff was staring at the water cupped in her hands. Finally Sarah rolled her eyes and broke the silence herself.

"I hope he wasn't dead."

"No," Macy said. "I'm afraid the person who stole your horse used him in a robbery today." She splashed the handfuls of water in her face and patted her cheeks. She rested her elbows on the edge of the sink and let her head hang.

Sarah took the gun from her belt and ran her thumb over the porcelain inlay on the butt. 

"That's horrible," she said. "I guess you didn't catch the bad guys, or you'd tell me my horse was safe in the town stable."

"No. Not all of 'em. Got one, though."

Sarah brought the gun up. _Damn right, you did. Now lift your pretty little head so I can pay you back._

"Well, that's good, right?" Sarah said. It was a struggle to keep her voice light. 

Macy shook her head. "It ain't good at all."

Sarah furrowed her brow. "But you stopped the robbers."

Macy put her hands on the edge of the sink and straightened her back to look out the window. Sarah brought her gun up, laying the sight along the crown of Macy's skull. All she had to do was squeeze the trigger and Jack would be avenged. But something about the sheriff's posture and the tremor in her voice made her hesitate. 

"Well, what happened?" she asked, lowering the gun.

"Couple of 'em took the town payroll. I followed them all the way out of town and caught up with them by the woods. Couldn't let 'em get away so I took a risk. Got too close and ended up having to shoot one of them." She picked up a handkerchief off the counter, shook it out, and wrapped it around three fingers. She dipped it into the water and then dabbed at her cheeks with it. "Stood there and watched the man die."

Sarah ground her teeth together. The thought of this woman standing over Jack, victorious, watching him die. She tightened her grip on the gun and brought it up to Macy's head again. One bullet. That's what it would take.

"I said some words."

The barrel trembled and dropped again. "Words?"

"I don't know. Not a prayer. Never been much of a churchgoer. But I figured if he was religious, he'd want someone to say something on his behalf." She sniffled and Sarah suddenly realized why Macy wasn't facing her. "Wouldn't even tell me his name."

"Why would you want to know his name? He's just a robber, right?"

"He was a person," Macy said. "He's probably got family out there somewhere. Deserve to know their boy was..." She cut herself off and gave a heavy sigh. Sarah returned the gun to her belt just as Macy turned around. Her eyes were red, but focused on the wood floor so Sarah would be less likely to comment. "I should've offered you something to drink. I have water and tea..."

"I really should get home... I just wanted to let someone know about my horse."

Macy nodded. "I'll let you know if we catch sight of him. Robbers probably just used him for a quick getaway and dumped him the first chance they got. You'll probably find him grazing on your property in a few days none the worse for wear."

"I hope you're right," Sarah said. _Goddamn it, shoot her. It's what you came to do. End this, for Jack and Clark and everyone else back there at camp._ "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have bothered you."

"No, it's all right," Macy said. "I thought I wanted to be alone, but I guess I did need someone to talk to."

Sarah stared at Macy for a long moment and said, "It really hurts you, doesn't it? This fella dying."

"Of course it hurts me," Macy said softly.

"He was a thief."

Macy chewed her lip and said, "Him and three other people rode into this town and took our payroll. You know what that means? It means that the people of Roman, Oklahoma didn't get paid today. It means families are gonna go to bed hungry. They might not be able to afford their rents. And if they can't afford to feed their families, then their livestock will be first to go. So yeah, I want the people who caused that punished. But someone ended up dead because of me. Doesn't matter who it was, the world's a little lighter because of me. And that just makes my soul feel a little heavier tonight."

Sarah looked at the front door. _Either kill her or leave,_ the voice in her head barked. It sounded like her father, and she bristled at following his orders. _If you can't do what you came here to do, then run. Walk out the door right now and tell Deacon you failed. Twice in one day. Unbelievable._

"Actually, I got nowhere I need to be," Sarah said. "It's already pretty late and, if those robbers are running around out there, I should probably stay off the road."

Macy considered the offer and said, "You like beer?"

"Mostly when it's cold and free," Sarah said. "I just... have to make sure my horse isn't goin' anywhere." Macy nodded and Sarah turned and fled the cabin. She stepped off the porch and took a deep breath of cool, fresh air. She walked to the horse she'd borrowed from Deacon and placed her revolver in the saddlebag. She rested her hands on the horse's back and closed her eyes, trying to reconcile what had just happened.

"What are you doing? What are you doing, you stupid woman?" She covered her eyes with her hand, waiting for her breathing to steady before she went back inside. She made sure the horse was securely tied to the post of Macy's porch before she climbed the steps and went back inside. Macy was sitting at the dinner table, her hand wrapped around the bottle on the table while the other rested on her thigh. 

Her chin was on her chest, her eyes closed.

Sarah crossed the room quietly and said, "Sheriff?" The woman didn't stir. Sarah extended two fingers and aimed them at the blonde's temple. She extended her thumb and then dropped it quickly. "Bang," she whispered. She could almost see the spray of blood, the body slumping to the side before it fell from the seat. The anger rising in her was pointless; she was angry at herself and her own inability to finish what was obviously an easy job.

She reached out and lightly touched Macy's cheek with the back of her hand. Macy's eyes opened, her back straightened, and her fingers tightened around the two beer bottles. "Oh. Sorry."

"We can skip the beers if you want."

"Don't know what's wrong with me," Macy said. She held out one of the beer bottles to Sarah and said, "Look, I'm not going to be very good company tonight. Obviously. But you were right about those robbers being out there. If you want to just crash on the couch it would be fine with me."

Sarah said, "Sure. Are you sure you're okay, though, Sheriff?"

Macy smiled. "I'll let you know. Thanks for listening to me, Ms. Lamb."

"Sarah." She surprised herself by saying it, glad that Macy wasn't looking at her to see the confused expression on her face. "You can call me Sarah, if you'd like."

"It might sound a bit formal, but all my friends call me Macy."

"All right," Sarah said.

Macy stood up and said, "You can turn out the lantern when you're ready for sleep. Tomorrow's gonna be focused on getting the payroll back, but part of that will include trying to find your horse. I'll keep my eyes peeled for it, let you know if I find anything. What's his name?"

"Bandit," Sarah said.

Macy managed a smile. "Because of the mask. Good name. Goodnight, Sarah."

"Night, Macy."

The sheriff went into the bedroom and shut the door. A minute or so later, Sarah saw the flicker of a lantern coming on through the crack under the door. All she had to do was wait for that light to go out and do what she came here to do. _She sure as hell didn't waste any time pulling the trigger on Jack. Why should you give her any thought?_

"It was her or Jack," Sarah murmured. "Anyone would've pulled the trigger. But how many of us would let it eat us alive?"

"You say something?" Macy called through the bedroom door.

"No, ma'am," Sarah said. "Sorry. Bad habit..."

She heard footsteps on the hardwood floor and then the squeak of bedsprings. Sarah went to the couch, expecting a trap to spring any second. The sheriff had to know who she was. This was all just a ruse to make her lower her guard before she closed the trap. But that didn't hold true... if it was a trick, then she would have reacted earlier when Sarah held the gun on her. She wouldn't have stood at the sink with a loaded gun aimed at the back of her head. God, she had to be the most naïve person in the world.

Or the most trusting. Trust wasn't something Sarah had a lot of expertise in, and she wasn't positive she could identify it on sight.

Sarah was slumped on the couch, staring out the front window of Macy's home. She laced her fingers together on her stomach and closed her eyes, waiting for an indication Macy was asleep so she could sneak out. She wasn't in any rush to get back to camp so she could report yet another failure. The time she spent waiting would give her time to think up a lie to cover her inability to pull the trigger.

#

Macy undressed in her room, dropping onto the bed in her undershirt and long johns. She heard Sarah outside, still murmuring under her breath. Something about the woman didn't ring true, but she didn't have the strength or desire to explore the feeling at the moment. She was dog tired and fearful of what she would see when she closed her eyes. Would she look into the dead man's face again, see his expression of contempt as the life seeped out of him? Would she see the faces of her town looking at her with disappointment and fear? For the first time since pinning on the badge, she wished she had just handed the job over to Henry and rode out of town.

She'd been so proud when the mayor offered her the position. "Your daddy once said it's what he wanted. If you agreed to it, of course."

How could she say no? Her father fresh in the ground, her eyes stinging from the tears she refused to shed in public. She refused to wonder if she was in over her head; too many people were thinking that without her joining their number. She was so eager to prove them wrong that she'd never let herself consider the fact they might be right.

Macy was about to drift off when she heard the front door quietly open and then close. A few minutes had passed since she turned out the lantern, and the sound was like a clap of thunder in the dead of night. She sat up in bed and moved to the window, walking on the balls of her feet to quiet her steps. She put her shoulder to the wall and leaned against the glass. She saw Sarah step off the porch and untie her horse, casting a glance back at the house to make sure she wasn't being followed. 

Sarah led the horse away from the porch, putting some distance between them and the house before she stepped into the stirrup and threw her leg over the horse's back. The horse started to trot and before long the silhouette was swallowed by the larger shadows of the night. Macy let the curtain fall back into place and walked back to bed.

Sarah Lamb was definitely hiding something, but it was a mystery that would have to wait for another day.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four,**

Deacon and the boys were sitting up waiting for her when she rode back into the town. Deacon was the first to react to her return, pushing himself up and stepping off the porch as she rode up. "Took you long enough," he said. He looked her over, and she knew he expected to see blood covering her blouse. "You took care of the body, right? Didn't just leave her where anyone could find her?"

"I came up with a new plan."

Deacon ran his tongue over his bottom lip, sucking his top lip into his mouth as he pressed his fists to his waist. "Wanna run that by me again?"

She dismounted and returned the horse's reins to him. When he took them, she moved until she was in his face and lowered her voice. "I don't have to run shit by you, Deacon. When my father died, the rest of this gang decided to make me his successor. I know you were my dad's right hand, and I appreciate you continuing on as mine. But you will not continue to act like I'm just your puppet. Understood?"

Deacon stared down at her and said, "What's the new plan you came up with, boss?"

Sarah brushed past Deacon and scanned the brown and pale blurs of everyone's faces. In the dark, it was hard to identify a specific person so she said, "Clark, you here?"

"Here, Lucas," Clark said, stepping down off Deacon's porch.

"Tomorrow you're going to ride into Roman and find the sheriff's office. You're gonna ask after your brother--"

Someone else on Deacon's porch said, "You gotta be out of your damn mind."

She chose not to recognize the voice. "You'll ask after your brother's body. Tell 'em that you just came in from Missourah because you heard your brother was getting into a bad element. You'll be appropriately distraught that you got here too late, but you'll thank the sheriff."

Deacon cleared his throat. "All due respect, ma'am, I assumed you were heading out to take care of the sheriff in Jack's memory."

"That was the plan. Plan changed." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Do you have a problem with that, Deacon?"

"Then perhaps you'd like to enlighten the rest of us to the new plan, in case we have to back you up on it."

Sarah said, "I talked to the sheriff tonight. Convinced her I was some farmer who lost her horse. With a little effort, I think the two of us could become friends. I don't think I have to spell out the ways this could be a help to us. Jack used to work for the company, so he knew the way they worked. Once they find out about the robbery they're gonna do what they can to make amends. The next delivery will be even bigger to cover the loss to their employees. Even if they don't, two is better than one."

She paused, trying not to think of Sheriff Macy's voice when she talked about the people who lost their income. Missing another payday could be the end of the town. The end of the people. She pressed her lips together and pushed the thought out of her mind. 

"I'm going to spend the next two weeks getting real friendly with the sheriff. Then when the time comes, I'm going to make sure she's distracted when the robbery goes down. We're not going to lose anyone else this time."

Deacon said, "Where you lead, we'll follow."

Sarah took of her hat off and ran a hand through her hair. "Yeah. Keep that in mind, Mr. Deacon." She looked at the gathered people and raised her voice. "Everyone get some sleep. We got a lot of work ahead of us in the next few weeks." She walked to her house and hoped that a good night's rest would help her forget about the sheriff's vulnerability and the damage she was planning to do to her town.

#

The next morning, Macy put on a fresh outfit and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She could almost feel her father's hand on her shoulder. _"You know what yesterday is?"_

She answered him out loud. "It's history. Unchanging. Today is a brand new thing, and all you can do is take the pieces you're given and make it a good day." She splashed water on her face and finger-combed her hair before she pulled it into a braid. Her badge was lying on the bureau and she ran her finger over the letters carved into the gold. Sheriff. She pinned it to her blouse and tucked it into her jeans. Brand new day, bright new morning, and a chance to make amends for the problems of yesterday.

She left the bedroom and glanced at the couch. Sarah obviously hadn't even tried to sleep there before slipping out. She realized that even if she found the missing horse, she had no way of getting in touch with Sarah Lamb to let her know. Macy tried not to blame herself for the woman's departure, but it was hard to deny. She'd all but tied the woman down, poured her heart out, then told her she couldn't leave. _How needy can one person be?_ she thought. It was no wonder Sarah had run as soon as she had a chance. 

Macy took Harlequin from the stable and took the time to brush him down, preparing him for another long day of work. After saddling up, she decided to take a leisurely path into Roman so she could look for Sarah Lamb's missing horse. It would also give her a chance to clear her head and push beyond yesterday's mistakes.

Isaac Macy brought the family to Oklahoma during the Land Run. Opportunities abounding, chances for expansion that they couldn't get anywhere else. He wasn't interested in being a leader, but he made sure he was nearby those who did. He shook hands, patted backs, and shared cigars with the people he knew could make or break a career. When they settled in, he called in a few favors from his smoking buddies and a badge appeared on his chest within weeks of planting their stakes.

Unlike most people who played politics, he wanted the job for only one reason; to do it. He believed in law and order, and he knew how rare that would be in a place like Indian Territory. He saw it as his chance to make a real difference. Too many people would be running in and setting up their own personal fiefdoms.

She was twelve when her father caught her playing with her friends, his badge pinned to the front of her threadbare shirt. He'd pulled her aside and, rather than yelling at her, said, "You wanna wear that, you're gonna have to work for it. Earn it. You think you can do that?"

"I think so," she said.

He'd gently taken the badge off, put it on his own shirt, and said, "Come and find me when you _know_ so."

Her teenage years were spent in the backyard with her father, learning how to shoot. She did her schoolwork in his office, watching as he talked with townspeople. She got to know the town drunks by name, all of them telling her to never touch a drop of alcohol if she wanted to have a good life. Before Henry Rucker got hired, Anna was considered his unofficial deputy. She followed him as he walked around town, checking on the older residents and making sure everyone was behaving.

She was sweeping out one of the holding cells when she heard the gunshot that changed her life. For some reason, her first thought was that her father had decided to set up target practice in the empty lot beside the station. It was nothing he'd ever done before, and there had only been one shot, but she couldn't shake the image even as she walked outside and saw him sprawled on the walkway in front of the station's door.

It didn't take long to discover the source of the bullet. It was the fourth day of hundred-degree heat, and a shotgun stored in the back of someone's truck overheated. The bastard had stored his weapon loaded, claiming that it didn't do any good as a theft deterrent if he had to waste time loading a bullet. It took all of Macy's will not to kill the man on the spot. Instead she dragged him into the station, called Henry, and went to wait with her father while someone got Doc Merritt. 

Macy held on to the feeling of that day. If she could sit on the hard wood of the walkway, cradling her father's corpse while she waited for Henry or Doc or anyone to come help her, then she could take on anything. Even a couple of assholes who decided they deserved to have the money her town had worked so hard to earn.

Macy rode directly to Doc Merritt's office and found the older man in the exam room. She knocked on the desk as she passed it, and he turned to see who it was. "Sheriff Anna."

She smirked. Of everyone in town, Merritt was the one with the most trouble adjusting to her new job. He had apologized countless times, explaining that to him, her father would always be Sheriff Macy. She accepted the quirk and decided it was fine if he wanted to call her Anna.

She gestured at the body on the exam table. Merritt had covered it with a white sheet. "Any closer to finding this fellow's name?"

"I had Mayor North in here earlier to take a look. I'll get a sketcher to put a picture of him in the paper, see if there's anyone who might know who he was. Other than that, we may have to stick him in Potter's Field."

Macy sighed and looked toward the window. "Mayor mention anything about the robbery?"

"He's riled up," Merritt said. He looked at Macy and said, "Not at you, though. He knows you did everything you could."

Macy took a deep breath and let it out through her nostrils. "All right. Let me know if anyone comes forward for him."

She turned to leave and was surprised to see someone standing in the doorway behind her. He was a tall, slender man with stooped posture, his blonde hair hanging loose in his eyes. He was staring at Macy, but had enough presence of mind to look away when she faced him. He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing before he spoke. "Uh, I... l-looking for my brother."

"Sheriff Anna Macy. This is Doctor Ambrose Merritt. What makes you think your brother is here?"

"Bad element," the man said. "He was... you know, a screw-up and he was hanging out with bad people. You're the sheriff?"

"Yeah. And you are?"

"Cl..." He seemed to bite his words off, winced, and then said, "Uh, Clark."

Macy nodded. "And your brother?"

"Jack."

Macy said, "Could you describe your brother to me?"

"He's got black hair, and his nose got broke a few times so it's crooked. And he's got a big forehead. And blue eyes."

"Height? Weight?" Merritt asked.

"Tall. Thin."

Macy said, "I'm afraid I might have some bad news for you. We'd like to ask you to try and identify your brother's body."

"All right, let's see him."

Merritt cleared his throat.

"Sir, your brother might be lying on this table. I want you to be prepared for that."

He shrugged. "Whatever, sure."

Macy walked back to the table where the thief was laying. She pulled back the blanket to expose the man's face, and turned to watch Clark's reaction. He looked down at the body and took a few steadying breaths, wiped his hand down his face, and finally nodded.

"Yep. That's him."

"He was killed during a robbery," Macy said. "He took the town's payroll, cost a lot of people their paydays. Could end up costing them a lot more than that."

"Well, you got him," Clark said with a bit more anger than Macy expected. "Got the money back."

"Some of it," Macy admitted. She drew the sheet back over Jack's face and said, "Tell me something, Mister...?"

"Huh?"

Merritt said, "She wants your name, sir."

"Gave her my name."

"Your last name. You're Clark and Jack..."

"Wilson."

Macy nodded, "Well, Mr. Wilson, I can't help but wonder about a couple of things. When did you get into town? This morning?" He nodded. "And you decided to come straight to the doctor to try and find your brother?"

"I was headin' to your office to talk to you."

"Oh. So how'd you know I was here?"

Clark glanced toward the door and started to say something before he closed his mouth.

"Recognize my horse? If you just got into town, how'd you know that horse belonged to me? And here's the most important question, the one that's been weighin' on me since you walked into the room. If you just got into town today, then what was your shirt doin' on one of the robbers riding with your brother yesterday?"

Clark turned and dashed for the door. Macy pushed Merritt's desk out of the way and caught up with him halfway through the front room. She grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled. He was thrown off balance and hit the ground in a tumble of limbs, his arms coming up to protect his head as he hit the ground. Macy rolled him onto his back and placed a knee between his shoulders as she yanked his arms back. 

"Now, sit still. We're just going to give you a nice place to stay while you're in town. We'll even give you someone to talk to. We're known for our hospitality in these parts."

Merritt stood in the doorway and watched her cuff him. "Nice moves, sheriff."

"Thanks," she said. She hauled the man to his feet and said, "C'mon. We'll get you all set up at the police station and then we can have a nice long chat."

She guided Clark Wilson, or whatever his name was, out into the sunshine. She couldn't help but think to the four thieves she'd chased out of town the day before. 

_Two down, two to go,_ she thought.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five,**

Macy tied a rope to Clark's belt so she could lead him from her horse, forcing him to trail along behind her. He struggled a bit, but with his hands cuffed behind him and her already on horseback, he knew he wouldn't get far. People started to line the sides of the street as Macy passed, eyeing her prisoner and her with equal measure. Finally, someone got up the nerve to ask. "Sheriff. He one of the guys who got our money?"

"That's what I intend to find out," Macy said, "but it looks pretty likely."

Someone at the far end of the street whistled, and someone in front of the bar started to clap. "Only a matter of time," she heard a woman shout. "You'll get the others, sure enough."

Macy dipped her chin and brushed her finger along the brim of her hat. She hadn't meant to parade Clark Wilson like a trophy, but she had to admit the ego boost was doing her a fair bit of good. It was a relief to see the people of Roman applauding her, having faith in her. It was exactly what she'd needed the night before.

Henry was already outside the police station when she rode up. "Heard you were bringing a guest. Don't worry, sir, we're known for our hospitality here."

"I already used that one," Macy said. She climbed off the horse and untied Clark. "Maybe you should mention our maid is outta town and he'll have to clean up after himself."

"I'll let you do the jokes," Henry said. She handed Clark over, and Henry led the man inside. Macy followed, taking off her hat as she stepped through the door.

"Who told you I was bringing someone?"

"Little Calvin. Said you was riding down the main road with a guy dragging behind you. Guess he exaggerated a bit."

Macy smirked as Henry guided Clark into a cell. He undid the man's cuffs and then pushed the bars shut on him. Clark turned to face them, his expression a mixture of contempt and self-hatred. "Don't think I'm gonna be talking to you, if you don't mind," he said.

"But we could have such a great conversation, Clark. Is that your name?" He was silent and Macy rested her hip against the wall across from his cell. "Never mind. I don't wanna bother learning a new name if it isn't. So I'll just call you Clark for now. You and your brother were riding with two other people yesterday. I'd like to know their names."

"One of 'em was Tweedle Dee. And I think... yeah, the other was Tweedle Dum. I think that's what they said."

Macy raised an eyebrow. "Son of a bitch. You can read?"

Henry said, "Could knock me over with a wet noodle, sheriff. Fella over here referencing books? Who'd have guessed?"

"You're going to be spending a lot of time in this jail before you're taken up to the state pen in Kansas, Mr. Wilson. I'd like for us to be friends during that time. That all depends on you. Help me out and I'll be a pleasant person to be around. But if you make me find your friends all by myself, I'm not going to be inclined to do you any favors."

Clark turned his back on her and walked to the cot under the window. He dropped down onto the mattress, crossed his boots at the ankles, and put his hands behind his head.

Macy arched an eyebrow and said, "Have it your way, Mr. Wilson. I'm sure when I get your friends in here, they'll all appreciate you keeping your mouth shut."

She walked out of the room with Henry trailing behind her. They stopped just outside the door and Henry stood where he could keep an eye on the cell. "Worth a shot," he said. "You gonna keep working on him?"

Macy said, "Yeah. I figure he's working with a group a lot bigger than what I saw."

"You ain't thinking Daniel Lucas, are ya?"

"No. But Daniel Lucas was more than just a man. He had a gang, people he rode with. More often than not, he'd use them as fall guys so he wouldn't get nabbed. Those people had to go somewhere. I'm thinking either they finally got their stuff together and headed out on their own, or Lucas had some kind of kin that took over for him. Maybe a son or a brother." She looked down at Henry's hands, the fingers working as if manipulating something. "You got a cigarette?"

"Sure," he said. He fished a few out of his pocket and handed one to her, lighting it for her before he lit his own. Henry had a quirk about only smoking when someone else was, so Macy enabled him every now and then. She took a drag and blew the white smoke into the sky. Henry rolled his own cigarettes, making them taste different than anything else Macy had tasted. She watched the ash grow and tipped it onto the boardwalk as she thought about her next step.

"What are the Taylor boys up to today?"

Henry lifted a shoulder. "Same ol', same ol'."

"I want you to round 'em up and get them searching for a horse. Black with a spot of white on its nose. Answers to Bandit."

"That's the horse you saw the leader riding yesterday."

Macy nodded. "I got a visit from the owner last night. Turns out the horse was stolen yesterday morning."

"Damn. I was hoping a horse that distinctive would lead us right to the thief."

"You and me both."

Henry said, "Well, Liam and Barton are usually at the Valley for lunch and some drinks. I'll head over there in about an hour and see if they're around."

"Could you go now?"

"Sure, guess I could. Didn't know it was that important. You know the lady who lost the horse?"

Macy shook her head. "Never seen her before. Something about her." She chewed on her bottom lip and then took a drag off her cigarette. She sighed and said, "Like you said, the horse is distinctive. Bad guys probably dumped it the first chance they got. Too many people lost too much yesterday. I'd like to be able to give a little of it back, whether it's money or a stolen horse."

"I'll get on it, sheriff," Henry said.

"I'd be much obliged," Macy said. She flicked her cigarette onto the ground and mashed it with the toe of her boot before she went back inside. 

#

Sarah hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, instead lying awake and trying to figure out what to do with the damn sheriff. She finally did fall asleep a little before noon, not long before Clark headed to town to make good on the first part of her plan. Clark would step in, claim his brother's body, and then he would stick around for a while. The grieving stranger would go unnoticed, and could report back to her on what the sheriff was doing and saying to people. When someone started knocking at her door, she noted how early it was and expected good news. Clark had retrieved Jack's body and was there to report a mission accomplished.

She opened the door and found Deacon standing on her porch with a look of barely contained fury. Three other members of the gang stood behind them, hands on their guns. She sighed. "What did the jackass do wrong?"

"Got no idea," Deacon said. "But we were watching from down the street. He walked into the building and came out not five minutes later with handcuffs on. Sheriff led him down the street on a leash like he was a damn mutt."

Sarah stepped back into the house, but she left the door open. It wasn't an invitation, but a way to keep up the conversation while she dressed. "Where's he now?"

"Probably halfway to the state prison," one of the men behind Deacon said.

"Ain't no state prison here," Deacon said. "She'll have to wait for the train, take him up to Kansas. That'll give us some time."

"She's not taking him anywhere," Sarah said. "She's got two of the people she was chasing yesterday, but only one of 'em can answer questions. She's going to get as much out of him as she can before she gives him up." She finished buttoning her shirt and grabbed her hat as she stormed out of her house. "C'mon."

"Got another brilliant plan?"

"We're getting our man back before he decides to talk."

"Clark won't give us up."

"Not on purpose," Sarah said. Deacon had to allow that, and followed her to the horses. "What about the lady sheriff?"

"What about her?"

"Your big plan to play friends with her."

"That's still on, depending how the rest of today goes. But if she gets in our way, I won't hesitate to put her down."

#

Henry Rucker got called a lot of things when Anna Macy took over as sheriff. His manhood was called into question, his abilities as a law officer and his mental state. For some reason, everyone just assumed he was biding his time as deputy for his shot at the big desk. It simply wasn't true. He was more than happy being a deputy, holding the fort and doing the little odd jobs the sheriff couldn't or didn't have time to do. It was what made him happy, and he was grateful Anna was willing to follow in her father's footsteps.

The Valley Bar was the last building on Main Street, with a row of windows that looked out over the plains. The front doors were open, and Henry walked in and scanned the few occupied tables in the place. The Valley served breakfast, lunch and dinner, but their busiest time was mid-afternoon when people got off work and needed a little liquid fortification at the end of their work day. 

Eleanor Palmer came out from behind the bar, dressed modestly for a change. Her auburn hair was pulled back, her typical low cut dress replaced by a button down blouse and riding slacks. She dragged her fingers along the bar and Henry moved to meet her halfway. 

"Come to make sure my girls are behaving?" she asked.

Henry couldn't help but blush. The rooms on the second level of the bar were rented by the girls working in the Valley as waitresses, but the rents were by the hour and frequently shared with men. The original Sheriff Macy had tried to run her out a few times, but the men in town caused a fuss. The waitresses threatened to leave town if Eleanor spent even one night in jail. Finally, reluctantly, Isaac Macy allowed her to operate so long as she kept up her legitimate business and kept things respectable.

Still, Henry had a hard time thinking about the things that went on upstairs at the bar.

He cleared his throat and said, "Sheriff sent me to find Liam and Barton Taylor. They come for lunch yet?"

"Haven't seen them today," Eleanor said. "They usually don't get here until noon. You know that. Is there some kind of emergency you need them for?"

"Not really, but Sheriff Macy wants something done sooner rather than later."

"The Taylors will be happy to do it if they ever show up." She put a hand on his shoulder and said, "How about you wait for them? Diana is working today."

Henry's blush reached his ears and he ducked his chin. "Ms. Palmer, you know I'm happily married."

"That doesn't stop half my clientele." She dropped her hand and looked over the room. "But you're more than welcome to stay in the respectable area of my business. I'll bring you something to drink. Water or tea?"

"Water's fine, Ms. Palmer."

He walked to one of the tables near the door so he wouldn't miss the Taylors when they came in. The boys drifted around town most days, doing odd jobs for whoever would hire them. They'd been enlisted to guard duty for the jail more than once, and both Isaac and Anna Macy trusted them to do their jobs honorably. Eleanor brought over a tall glass of ice water and Henry thanked her as he took a sip.

"Any time, sugar." She winked and headed back behind the bar.

Henry shook his head and looked out the window. Luckily he was married, so he didn't have to worry about being tempted. He glanced at Eleanor as she walked away, noting the way the slacks hugged her curves. He pressed his lips together to try and hide his smile. _Okay, not_ very _tempted, anyway,_ he thought.

He looked back out the window in time to see a black horse go past at a fast trot. The person riding it was wearing a mask over his face, bent low over the neck of the horse. He frowned, thinking of the description Sheriff Macy had given him of the stolen horse as he pushed his chair away from the table. He went outside, lifting one hand to block the sun as he looked after the black horse.

He heard someone lash their horse and turned just in time to see two other riders coming up on him fast. He jumped back onto the sidewalk and pulled his pistol free. "Halt!" he shouted, but the riders didn't even glance back. He kept his gun in hand as he ran after them, cursing the fact he'd left his horse at the police station. He checked the load on his weapon as he ran and fired twice into the air.

Hopefully it would give Sheriff Macy enough warning that she wasn't caught off-guard when the thieves showed up to free their man.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six,**

Macy sat behind her desk and watched Clark hang off the cell door. He kept his head down, his temple resting against the bars, eyes closed. "You need anything?" she asked. "Water, something to eat? I wasn't joking earlier, you do have certain rights as a prisoner."

"Why don't you just shut up?"

Macy stood up and pointed down the hall. "You see that metal door down at the end of the hall with the little slot in it? That room is about half the size of your cell, and it's got no windows. Sometimes if someone gets mouthy, we like to stick 'em in there for a few hours. Maybe a day. So you can either speak civilly and let me know if you want something to eat, or you can go into the dark little room where I don't have to look at you. It's your--"

She was interrupted by two quick gunshots from the street. She immediately forgot about Clark Wilson and his bad attitude, moving toward the front door. She took her shotgun from behind the desk as she passed, hurrying across the room to look outside. She pressed her shoulder against the door and scanned the road.

The three horses were racing down the street at full gallop, all of the riders armed and ready. Their faces were covered by masks, color-coded bandanas that matched their shirts. Macy eyed the people and then let herself absorb the fact the lead horse was black with a spot of paint across its eyes. _Bandit._

Macy aimed the shotgun over the rider's heads and fired. The sound was explosive on the street, and the screams began to rise as the echo faded. Macy took cover behind the door as the riders reached the jail. Wood splintered as the masked men fired at the door, and Macy looked back to see Clark taking cover under his cot. When the gunfire stopped, she peered outside and saw Henry running down the street. She figured it was his warning shots she'd heard, and she made a note to thank him for that later.

"Send out our boy!" one of the riders shouted.

"That black horse y'all have is stolen property," Macy shouted. "I appreciate you turning yourselves in. If you'd just tie him up and enter the station with your hands--"

Another round of gunfire sent Macy deeper into the building.

"Worth a shot," she muttered. 

"Throw down your weapons!" Henry shouted from outside.

Macy smiled and peered out the door. The riders were torn; two of them turned to face the deputy, while the leader on the black horse was still facing the door. Macy aimed her shotgun at the rider's chest. "You're riding stolen property. Kindly climb off and--"

The masked rider brought up his gun, and Macy went on instinct. She pulled the trigger and watched the rider on the black horse grab his shoulder as he tumbled out of his saddle. Macy stepped out onto the sidewalk, silencing her thoughts - _God, another kill_ \- back as she approached the other two riders. Henry was left-handed, so she left him take the rider on his left. She aimed her shotgun at the other and said, "Throw down your guns like the deputy asked you."

One of the men raised his hands and let his revolver dangle from two fingers. The other pulled on his reins and turned back the way he'd come. Macy brought her gun up, but she hesitated to pull the trigger. By the time Henry lined up a shot, the rider was too far away and he didn't try to fire. 

"Boss, you all right?"

"Yeah," Macy said, kicking herself for not pulling the trigger. She turned and saw the rider of the lead horse lying in the dirt, blood seeping from his shoulder. Sarah Lamb's horse was moving from side to side in a panic. Macy took the horse's reins and calmed the horse quickly, making sure it wouldn't bolt when she let go of its reins. When she turned, she saw Henry handcuffing the thief who had surrendered.

"Looks like we're four for four, even if that one fella did get away."

"Looks like," Macy said. She walked to the man lying on the ground, the man who had been riding Sarah Lamb's horse. The man's body was limp, his hat lying a few feet away from him on the ground. Macy tapped his extended hand with her boot to make sure he wasn't playing possum, then knelt down and pulled down his mask.

"Anyone we know?" Henry asked.

Macy stared at the man's red hair, the wispy beard on his cheeks and chin. "No idea," Macy said. "Doesn't even really look like Lucas."

"Could take after his momma, whoever that is."

Macy shrugged and said, "Get your prisoner inside, make sure to put him in the farthest cell. Away from Clark Wilson. I'll have someone get Doc Merritt and let him know we got another customer for him."

Henry said, "Will do."

"Henry," she said. "Good thinking. If they'd caught me off-guard it'd be an entirely different situation right now."

"No problem, boss."

He took the prisoner into the jail and Macy knelt next to the dead body. She saw one of the girls from the Valley Bar standing on the sidewalk and whistled. "Go get Doc Merritt. Tell him to get to the jail as soon as he can." The girl nodded and ran off, eager to be away from the scene of violence. 

Macy looked down at the body again, focusing on his features. She tried to imagine if this man could possibly have been related to Daniel Lucas. She remembered him as a tall, dark, lanky man with piercing eyes. He'd looked almost like a pirate from the cover one of those dime-novels her father never allowed her to read. This guy looked like a rat, malnourished and unwashed. Maybe things were rough on the Lucas gang after their leader got dead, but she couldn't imagine them lining up behind someone like this.

She took a blanket from Bandit's saddle and used it to cover the man's body. Merritt didn't like people to move bodies before he had a chance to look at them, but she refused to let a dead man lie in the middle of the road for everyone to see. She found a stone to weigh down the body, ignoring the mental reminder that this was the second body in as many days that she'd had to cover, and she heard a frantic sob coming from the alley next to the jail.

Macy kept her shotgun ready as she stepped onto the sidewalk, using the corner of the building as cover. She peered into the shadows and saw a woman pressed against the wall, hands clasped over her head, trembling and babbling quietly. The woman was dressed in man's clothing, her long black hair hanging loose to obscure her face. But there was something familiar about the way she stood.

"Sarah?"

The woman looked up and her eyes widened. "Sheriff! I was coming because I wanted to give you a way to get in touch with me. And I saw him! I saw Bandit! So I started running after him, and then there was all this gunfire and, and..."

"It's all right," Macy said. She lowered the gun and put her arm around Sarah. "We took care of them. And we got your horse back. Come on." She guided Sarah out of the alley and led her up to Bandit. "Look familiar?"

Sarah smiled and ran her hand over Bandit's snout. He responded, lifting his head to nicker and brush his face against her palm. "Hiya, boy," she said. She looked at the blanket spread out over the ground, the obvious shape of a body underneath it. "You killed him." Her voice was flat, free of emotion, and Macy was worried she might faint.

"Come on," she whispered. "Let's get you out of the heat, all right?"

They went into the jail and Macy saw Henry locking the cell door on the man they'd managed to arrest. He saw Sarah and said, "Everything all right, Sheriff?"

"Yeah, she's just a bit shaken."

Clark had emerged from his hiding place under the cot and was staring at Sarah. Macy didn't want to expose her to being ogled by criminals, so she said, "Keep an eye on these boys, Henry. I'm going to take Ms. Lamb next door, get her something to drink."

"All right. I'll keep an eye out for the doctor."

Macy nodded and guided Sarah back outside. "I-I didn't..." Sarah stammered.

"Ms. Lamb?"

Sarah pressed her lips together and said, "Nothing. I just... I didn't expect you to get my horse back so fast. I thought I was just wasting your time." She looked over her shoulder at the body in the street. Macy looked as well and saw Eleanor's waitress was hurrying back down the street, dress gathered in her hands so she wouldn't trip, and Doc Merritt was running along behind her. 

Macy gently turned Sarah away from the sight and said, "Don't worry. He's not going to hurt anyone any more."

Sarah managed a smile and said, "Right. Thanks to you."

The wording made Macy's skin crawl, igniting her guilt from the night before. She gestured at the building next to the jail and said, "Come on. We can sit in here and talk a bit. Get you something cool to drink." She looked into Sarah's eyes and saw something she couldn't quite identify. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Just fine," Sarah said. "Lead the way, sheriff."

#

Sarah followed the sheriff into the cool café and felt the sweat on her face already starting to dry. A small metal fan stood next to an ice box, blowing the cool air toward the customers as they entered. Sheriff Macy gestured at a table and then went to the counter at the back of the room to get drinks for the both of them. Sarah sat down so she could face the door. She could still see Bandit tied up to the hitching post outside the jail, and she saw the curly-haired old doctor kneeling next to Ernest's body. 

She'd watched the entire thing from the alley, only barely resisting the urge to join the fight herself. The only thing that held her back was her lack of a weapon and the fact she didn't want to reveal her identity to the sheriff yet. The way things were going, it would only result in her death or arrest.

The plan had seemed airtight. The masked robbers came into town, guns blazing, acting like they wanted to take Clark home. There'd be some yelling, some shooting, and then the trio would be scared off by the sheriff. Then one of two things would have happened; either Sheriff Macy would take off in pursuit, leaving Clark protected by an aging deputy, or Sarah would allow herself to be discovered and escorted into the jail until she was calm enough to ride off. At the very least she would be able to get an idea of the layout.

Now both plans were bust. Ernest was dead, Joshua was in jail right next to Clark, and Deacon had wisely turned tail and headed back to camp. Fortunately there was no one in pursuit of him this time, but the losses would be hard to explain to the rest of the gang. Two dead, two locked up. Something that had never happened back in the days when Daniel Lucas and Isaac Macy were butting heads.

Macy put down two glasses of ice water and Sarah looked up at her, finally putting a name to the feelings she had for the sheriff.

It was respect.

She was furious about her losses, pissed that she had to sacrifice such a large chunk of their payday, but Sheriff Anna Macy was, at the very least, a formidable opponent.

"How are you feeling, Ms. Lamb? It's quite a shock to see someone die like that. Even for me."

Sarah wrapped her fingers around the glass instead of the handle, letting the cold transfer to her palm. "Even after all this time?"

Macy smiled. "You know, even way out here, being a sheriff isn't exactly all gun battles and train robbers. Daniel Lucas made things interesting for my daddy, but if you want action you gotta read those storybooks they sell at the general store. You saw how I was last night. I'll probably have another hard go of it tonight." She took a drink of her water and Sarah watched her throat. She looked away and Macy said, "I'll probably never find out this guy's name, either. Not unless his friend is more talkative than Mr. Wilson."

Sarah took a drink of her water instead of answering. She let the water sit on her tongue, staring down at Macy's hands.

"Look, I know that you went off last night after we talked about the thieves running around in the woods. Obviously you got home safely, but I'm not going to risk it today. One of those guys got away, and he could be coming back with friends. A woman alone on the road would be too inviting for them."

Sarah saw a chance for her plan to still work out. "Are you gonna offer to escort me home?"

"I can't get away right now, not with two prisoners in my jail. I need to call in some reinforcements before I can even think of leaving town. I could send my deputy to ride along with ya just to make sure you get where you're going."

That wouldn't work. Of course, if she took the deputy hostage... no. She took another drink and said, "Well, that would be fine, I guess, Sheriff. But maybe I could stay in town until you got the time to be my escort. No offense to your deputy, but I think you would be better company." 

Macy smirked and said, "Well, it might be late."

"All the more reason to have a brave and strong escort alongside me."

Macy laughed. "There's a bar at the end of the road. Valley Bar. There are rooms upstairs. Lady behind the counter is Eleanor. Tell her that you're a friend of mine and I said you can sit tight there until I come to get you."

"Thank you, Sheriff."

"My pleasure," Macy said. "I should probably go back over and help Henry. I'll catch up with you later tonight when things have settled down." 

Sarah nodded and decided to stay in character. "Thank you for finding my horse, Sheriff. I can't believe you did it. I'm so grateful."

Macy put her hand on Sarah's shoulder and squeezed. "I can't take much credit for it, but I'm glad something good managed to come out of today. I'll see you tonight."

Sarah nodded and watched Macy walk out of the café. If things went well, she could have both Clark and Joshua out of jail by morning while at the same time getting herself alone with the sheriff out in some dark, secluded place. She finished her drink and wiped her sleeve over her lips as she looked out at the doctor and the corpse of her friend.

Lots of things could happen in the dark.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven,**

Deacon walked back to town in a different outfit, his hair slicked back against his skull with water from a stream. He stood in the doorway of the Valley Bar and looked around, a man out of place and unsure of what the proper etiquette might be. Eleanor Palmer moved toward him like the wind was blowing her there, her face transforming into a warm and welcoming smile as his eyes marked her approach. "Hello, sir. Can I get you something to drink, perhaps an early lunch?"

"Uh, I think someone... I'm supposed to meet someone here."

"Donald. Over here."

Deacon glanced toward the voice and saw Sarah standing next to a booth. He gestured, and Eleanor nodded. She squeezed his bicep and said, "Let me know if you two need anything."

Deacon ignored her and walked to Sarah's booth. "What the hell happened?" she hissed before he'd even sat down.

"Her damned deputy got behind us somehow. Warned her we were coming. By the time we showed up, she was in the front door with a shotgun. What happened to Ernest?"

"Dead."

Deacon blew out a lungful of air and then shrugged. "Well, you wanted him to take the fall for the payroll robbery if he got caught. Guess this is the same situation only he can't have a crisis of conscience and turn on us."

"I think we can still salvage the plan," Sarah said. "Sheriff Macy knows me now. The whole friendship thing is working, I think. She doesn't want me riding home alone because of all the thieves and criminal types running around these parts. So she's gonna hang out here until she gets some back-up to watch the jail and then she'll escort me home."

"Where's home?"

"I figure the first secluded area we get to," Sarah said. "I'll lead her right into a quiet little place and then put a bullet through her head." She sipped from a mug of beer and licked the foam from her top lip. "Meanwhile you and the boys will be getting Clark and Joshua out of the jail."

Deacon said, "There's some problem with that plan. First of which, this is the second time you've said you were gonna kill this sheriff. You gonna back out again?"

Sarah said, "She's either damned lucky or just way too good to play games with. I only wanted to make friends with her so she'd let her guard down. Tonight I'll take advantage of that and put an end to her. What's the other problem with the plan?"

"You said she was getting reinforcements to watch the jail. I thought she only had the on deputy."

"Apparently she has volunteers she pulls in from time to time. Case like this when they have two dangerous criminals under lock and key, she'll want more people guarding the place."

Deacon raised an eyebrow. "Could work to our advantage. Could make sure a couple of those guards are friends of ours."

Sarah shook her head. "She'd never trust someone she just met."

"She seems to trust you a lot. Considering she's going off into the woods with you at night."

Sarah shifted uncomfortably. The thought had crossed her mind as well. "She thinks I'm just a harmless woman. Trust me, her last words are gonna be 'I thought you were my friend.'" She winked at Deacon, smiled, and finished off the last of her beer. She hoped that she sounded more confident than she felt.

#

Clark protested the entire time Henry was pushing him down the hall, cursing both Henry and Henry's mother as the door of the supply closet was slammed in his face. Macy waited until Henry threw the bolt before she turned and looked into Joshua's cell. "There you go, Josh. Your friend can't hear anything. He won't know if you were a stand-up guy or if you gave me the information I needed. You know what a few well-placed words could do? Could save lives. Could make sure a bunch of kids don't go hungry. I wish I had that kind of power, to do so much good with just a few words. It'd make me feel real good to say those words."

"Me too," Henry said.

"You're a powerful man, Josh."

He stayed on his cot, legs pulled up and arms wrapped around his knees. "Don't feel very powerful, if it's all the same to you."

Macy sighed and rested her hands on the bars. "Look, Joshua, maybe this is the problem. Maybe we're being vague. It can be hard to just go through all your knowledge and pick one thing that we want to hear. So I'm going to give you some hints. Were you a member of Daniel Lucas' gang? Did you ever ride with him?"

Joshua's cheek was pressed against his knee, facing the wall. His curly hair looked like a helmet around a baby face, his eyes deep-set black under heavy brows. He looked like he was about fifteen or sixteen, so it was doubtful he'd been old enough to ride with Daniel Lucas. Finally, he said, "My papa rode with him."

"What was your papa's name?" Macy said. "Mine was named Isaac. He was the sheriff here before I was. I like to think I make him proud, but some days... I don't know. Days when I have to shoot people, or I have to tell people that they won't be getting paid for their hard work? That can make me feel I'm doing a pretty lousy job. How about you? You think your father would be proud of you today?"

Joshua lifted his shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. 

"I bet he would be." He furrowed his brow and lifted his head to look at her. She smiled. "I know, I'm a sheriff, so I should tell you he'd be disappointed. But that ain't the truth. He rode with Daniel Lucas, he probably wanted you to follow in his footsteps. So seeing you riding up on a jail with guns blazing to get your friend out? Yeah, he'd probably be proud of you regardless of what _I_ think."

Joshua shrugged and put his cheek against his knee again.

Macy drummed her fingers on the bars and stepped back. "We're gonna talk again later, Joshua. Maybe you'll be more talkative on a full stomach. I'll be bringing you some lunch soon, and we'll have a nice discussion. What do you feel like? We got a bar down the street that can cook up a real nice steak. Baked potato with all the fixins. I'm just saying it looks like you haven't had a good meal in a while, you might as well get one here. What time you like to eat?"

Another shrug.

She turned to Henry. "Get him something from the Valley around six."

Henry nodded. "You got it."

"I'll be talking to you again later, Joshua. Real nice meeting you." She led Henry back out to the front room. Doc Merritt was sitting in front of her desk, using a wet handkerchief to wipe the blood from the creases of his fingers and his palms. "Anyone we know this time?"

"Ernest Williams."

Macy stopped in the process of sitting. "He from town?"

"Nope," Doc said. "Had it written on the inside of his shirt collar. Never seen the boy before in my life. Highly unlikely he's Daniel Lucas' boy, though. If he is, he didn't get a single thing from his Daddy and looks exactly like his Momma."

"Stranger things have happened," Henry said.

Macy shrugged. "I'll go with the most likely explanation and say he ain't the one everyone was calling Lucas yesterday."

"He was riding the same horse, right?"

"Yeah, but that might just mean they only have a handful of horses." She ran a thumb over her bottom lip. "Maybe whoever the leader is got spooked yesterday. Didn't want to risk getting caught."

Doc shrugged. "Could be. You said one of them got away today. That might've been the leader."

Macy shook her head. "I didn't get that clear of a look, but the guy who got away today was much more muscular. The guy they were callin' Lucas was more slender."

Doc pushed himself up and said, "Well, as much as I'd like to sit here and speculate, I gotta get that boy back to my office before he sits out in the sun any longer. Call me if you shoot anyone else."

"Not funny, Doc," Macy said.

He waved an apology as he shuffled out of the room. Henry took the seat the doctor had vacated and laced his fingers over his stomach. He looked toward Joshua's cell and then at the supply closet. "We gonna let Clark out any time soon?"

Macy remembered the way he'd looked at Sarah. "Nah. Let him sit for a while."

Henry nodded. "If you don't mind being left alone here with 'em, I'll head out and get some reinforcements. The Taylor boys should be at the Valley by now. Or if not, they will be soon once they hear about all the excitement."

"Yeah, go ahead. Bring back some lunch for our guests, too."

Henry said, "You got some cash, or you expecting Eleanor to comp you?"

Macy opened the bottom drawer of her desk and took out a few dollars. She handed them over. "And get yourself something."

"How about you?"

"I'll get a sandwich from the café next door."

Henry chuckled. "Sheriff eats a sandwich while the prisoners dine on steak?"

"More incentive for them to talk," she said. 

"You're the boss," he said. "I'll be back soon as I can."

Macy watched him go and then turned her chair to watch Joshua. He had stretched out on his cot, covering his head with the pillow. Macy took her gun from the holster and looked at it, weighing it in her hand before she flicked her wrist and knocked out the cylinder. All the bullets were there, but she was short one shotgun shell. She considered taking the bullets from the gun, but she couldn't risk that. The way things were going she might have to kill someone else tomorrow.

She rubbed her face and pinched the bridge of her nose. In her father's world, there had been no such thing as bad guys. There were just people who were too ignorant or lazy to do hard work. They weren't bad, just raised wrong or not as blessed as others. He took it upon himself to make sure everyone in his jail got a chance to repent, got the opportunity to apologize for what they had done. 

He talked to them, and sometimes he went into the cell and read to them from the Bible. Only once had it backfired, when a prisoner took out a concealed knife and sliced him across the back of the hand. Even then Isaac had given the man the opportunity to apologize.

Now she had two bodies on her conscience. What would her father have said if he was alive, if she was his deputy and sitting across from him with a smoking shotgun? 

She wasn't sure she knew, and fairly sure she didn't want to consider it.

#

Sarah borrowed the room as Macy suggested, taking one at the front of the building so she could take advantage of the window that faced the jail. She spent her afternoon in the window seat, staring down the road. She counted six different men going into the jail, and two of them came back out and took a seat on the front walk with rifles laid across their laps. The reinforcements had arrived. She kept notes, marking down how many people were inside - the answer was disheartening - and how many of her people she would have to use to get Clark and Joshua out.

The sad truth was she didn't think she had enough people. The guys who ran with her father were all either injured or too old to be a formidable opponent to a room of armed deputies. Losing two able-bodied men to bullets and having two more locked up seriously depleted her stockpile of gunners. She chewed her lip and tried to think of a scenario where they could get her men out without causing any more casualties.

If they lost two more men trying to get Clark and Josh out of jail, then the entire endeavor would be a wash. Time and effort wasted, and families without daddies or brothers for no reason. The smart thing to do was to count them as lost and walk away.

It was almost four in the afternoon before she got hungry for lunch. She remembered a few people being served food downstairs in the bar, so she stripped off her blouse and went to the bathroom to wash up. She had just filled the sink basin with water when she heard a sound through the wall. She frowned and leaned closer to the mirror, listening closer.

A man, grunting, and the rhythmic squeak of bed springs. 

That was no surprise; it was very obvious what the rooms were used for the second she walked into hers. But to hear someone taking advantage in the middle of the afternoon. She gripped the edge of the basin and leaned closer to the wall, ashamed she was listening. But hell, she'd stolen lots of stuff in her life. Why shouldn't she try to steal a little bit of someone else's pleasure?

She wondered which waitress she had seen downstairs was now using the next room. Had she seen the customer who was now thrusting on top of her? The woman gave a long, wild cry that degenerated into a laugh and a whistle, and Sarah wondered if Eleanor Palmer had any boys for her lady customers. Or, barring that, maybe she could play with one of the girls.

That thought brought her up short, and she pulled away from the wall. She caught her reflection in the mirror and quickly looked away, ashamed of her thoughts. She dipped her hands into the water and splashed her face before she put her shirt back on.

When she left, she plugged her ears as she passed the next room, not eager to inadvertently hear any more of the shenanigans.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Sarah decided the best time to leave town would be late afternoon. That would give her enough time to get Macy out of town and to an appropriate spot to get rid of her without worrying about anyone seeing or hearing anything. She approached the jail a few minutes before suppertime. One of the men flanking the door tightened his grip on the butt of his rifle when he spotted her. She held her hands up and moved back a step. "I-I'm sorry. I'm just here to see the sheriff. She told me to come by--"

Macy came out of the building and said, "Ease up, Horace." The man relaxed, and Macy said, "Come on inside. I'm about ready to go. Bandit's probably itching to be back with you."

Sarah smiled and looked at her horse as she walked inside. Seeing him tied to the hitching post like that made her feel like he was imprisoned, too. At least the sheriff was going to let her take him when they left. She looked around the front room of the jail and saw six volunteers, plus the two sitting outside. The deputy, Henry Rucker, was reading a dime novel with his feet up on his desk. He looked up as she entered and dipped his chin in greeting.

"Lot of effort for just two men," Sarah said. She looked at Clark and Joshua, both of whom were sitting on the edges of their cots. Clark frowned at her, but Joshua seemed to be a thousand miles away. Sarah walked closer to the bars and met Clark's eyes. "They some kind of really bad guys?"

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Macy easing her back. "You might not wanna get too close, ma'am. Dangerous criminals tend to be a mite unpredictable."

Macy kept her hand on Sarah's shoulder a few seconds longer than necessary, but Sarah was surprised to find she didn't find it offensive. She licked her lips and nodded before she turned her back on the men in the cells. 

"Sorry about that. I've never been in a real prison before."

"This is just a town jail," Macy said. "The prison is up in Kansas. That's where these guys are heading. And yeah, it might be a little overkill, but we're not taking any chances. There's a chance these fellas are associated with the Lucas gang."

"Lucas?" Sarah said. "Doesn't ring a bell." She looked over her shoulder at Clark and hoped he got the message. "Is he a dangerous man?"

"Was," Henry said. "Before Macy's pop put a bullet in 'im."

Sarah's eyes widened. "Your father killed Daniel Lucas?"

"Thought you hadn't heard of him."

Sarah looked at Henry and said, "It didn't occur to me until just now. He was a bad man."

Macy kept quiet as she took some things from her desk drawer and stuck them into the pockets of her jeans. She picked up her gun and slipped it into the holster, glaring at Henry as she prepared to leave. He didn't notice her expression and continued his diatribe. "He was a fool criminal who got a bunch of other fool criminals to follow him. All it took was one bullet to quiet him down for good."

"Henry," Macy said. "That's enough."

Sarah refused to look at the deputy for fear that he'd see the hatred in her eyes. 

"You ready?" Macy asked.

"Yeah, let's go," Sarah said.

She followed Macy outside. The sheriff stopped between the sentries and said, "Keep your eyes peeled. They tried to big, loud assault so they might go for sneaky and quiet this time. You start feeling sleepy or thirsty, you get a replacement before you nod off or go out to the bar. Hear me?"

"Yes, ma'am," the one she'd called Hector said.

"I'll most likely see y'all again in the morning. Listen to Henry while I'm gone."

She stepped off the boardwalk and untied her horse, letting Sarah untie Bandit on her own. Sarah noticed Macy had a large pack, which she added to her horse's saddlebags, but she didn't comment on it as they mounted and gathered their reins. Macy pulled back and looked at Sarah. "You're gonna have to take the lead, since I don't know where you live."

Sarah mentally cursed herself, but it wasn't the end of the world. She would be in Macy's sights for the entire ride, but she could also take the opportunity to lead Macy into a trap. She nodded and clicked her tongue to urge Bandit forward. Macy fell in beside her, riding a few feet to Sarah's left. 

"How far is it to your home?" Macy asked.

"It's a pretty good trip. Sorry..."

"No, it's fine," Macy said. "I've got a pack, so I can camp out if I need to. I was just kind of curious about what kind of ride we got ahead of us."

Sarah said, "It's a ways."

"No problem. It's been a while since I had a good long ride." She looked over and said, "Probably feels nice to be back on Bandit, eh?"

Actually, Sarah had ridden him most of the way to town that afternoon. But she nodded and smiled. "Feels real good. I'd given up hope. I mean, not that I doubted your abilities or anything, but I thought it was unlikely."

"It was," Macy admitted. She patted her horse on the neck and said, "I'd be a mess if this guy ended up getting lost. Name's Harlequin. I call him Harley."

Sarah looked over the horse's brown coat, a cloak of white starting underneath the saddle and spreading back along its haunches. "I like it," Sarah said. She kept her eyes forward and her voice steady as she scanned the road leading out of town. "Did he belong to your father?"

"No," Macy said. "Man came through town with a warrant for his arrest. He was ready to stop running, but he was worried about what would happen to Harley. I offered to keep an eye on him, and the guy agreed."

Sarah said, "What if the guy gets out of prison?"

Macy shook her head sadly. "Got killed by another prisoner about a year after he went in. Misunderstanding, something stupid like that."

"You seem to take death pretty hard. I mean, considering you killed two people in as many days, it just seems strange is all."

"I'm not heartless just because I wear a badge. If I could, I wouldn't even load my gun. I don't want to kill anyone, but I'm just as particular about not being killed myself. So I do what I have to in order to make sure I'm not the one lying in the grass when things calm down."

Sarah just nodded at that, and the two women lapsed into silence as they rode out of Roman. The sun was getting lower in the sky; she would do her best to make sure Anna Macy never lived to see it rise again.

#

The shadows from the hills flanking Roman stretched out ahead of them, heralding the fact that it was close to nightfall. Macy accepted the fact Sarah wasn't too interested in talking and fell back a little to watch the other woman as she rode. There was definitely something off about her. At one moment she would be meek and compliant, the picture of conformity. The next something would flip a switch inside her head and she'd be borderline cold. The way her eyes hardened when Henry was talking about Daniel Macy was almost frightening.

She looked away from Sarah and focused on the landscape they were crossing. Bright fields of purple and yellow flowers stretched out on either side of them, barely visible in the dying light. The setting sun had caught all the clouds on fire, unexpectedly painting them pink and red and purple. It was like a seascape painted by a child; all the wrong colors but extraordinarily beautiful. 

Sarah was watching the clouds as well, and Macy took advantage of her distraction to examine her. She was dark-haired but fair, with high cheekbones and hazel eyes. She really was quite beautiful, despite her apparent affinity for men's clothing. Macy had never seen any women wear a man's outfit quite that well, in fact. Her hair was long, but pinned back so that it trailed down over her shoulders as she rode.

A thought occurred to her and she frowned. "Hm."

"What?"

"Nothing," Macy said. "Just how far away is your home?"

"A couple of miles. I've never really measured it. Why?"

Macy shook her head. "Nothing, it's just that you said it was quite a ways out here."

"If you want to turn back, I think I'll be safe--"

"No," Macy said. "I promised to escort you safely to your door, and I'll do that. But did you walk all the way to Roman this morning?"

Sarah seemed to tense up and she shook her head. "No, I rode in with someone else. They passed on through, on their way to Oklahoma City."

"Oh," Macy said. She chuckled. "I just wanted to make sure I wasn't giving you back one horse and making you abandon another back in town."

Sarah chuckled, and Macy decided to let the matter drop. 

"You know, I packed some dinner. Enough for both of us, if you wanted to stop and have something to eat on the way. When's the last time you had a picnic?"

"Hm. More often than you might think."

Macy didn't know what to think about that. She rode on for a while and said, "Well, if you feel like eating something let me know."

Sarah hesitated and then nodded. "Okay. Thanks. Appreciate that."

Macy nodded. There was that wall again, the coldness that didn't quite fit with the rest of Sarah Lamb's personality. She had something else going on in her mind, something that she was trying her best to keep from revealing. Macy decided to leave Sarah alone with her thoughts; if she wanted to confide, she'd be there to hear it.

#

Sarah kept her eyes peeled for a secluded spot to do what needed done. She didn't have a lot of options. There were three or four little towns out this way, all of them within walking or riding distance of Roman, and she could claim to be from any one of them without Macy thinking twice about it. The problem was which town to aim for, and how to get to it.

There were a few wooded areas that she could claim as shortcuts, places where it was unlikely anyone would disturb them until the deed was done. She was concerned about what she would do with the body; she didn't have the tools to bury it, and she felt uncomfortable leaving it out where anyone could happen across it at any time. She was running out of time; if Macy was wondering about how she got to town, it wouldn't be long before other pieces started to fall into place. She needed to end this.

She didn't want to rush and make a mistake, but she wanted it over with. She wasn't looking forward to the moment when she pulled the gun and took Anna Macy out of the picture, but it had to be done. If her father was still around, Sheriff Macy's body would have been in the grass right next to Jack's that first day. No hesitation and no cowardly running away. Just one bullet and then a quick turn-around to get back the money the sheriff had taken. How'd it get so complicated? Why had she let it get so complicated?

If she had to lay blame, it was on Macy's eyes. Brilliant green almonds, and the way the strands of her blonde hair caught in her eyelashes when she wasn't wearing a hat. Sarah shook her head to rid herself of the troublesome image. She'd killed two people in her life, both during robberies. They were just little jobs that she'd taken to hone her skills to take over after her father was killed. She had pulled the trigger to save herself from catching the bullet herself and she never thought twice about it.

She'd never thought about them as real people. She never looked into their eyes or sat in their quiet little home. She didn't know what they named their horse, for God's sake. 

Those details shouldn't have made it harder. She was still protecting herself, still looking out for her people. Sheriff Anna Macy was dangerous and needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later. Sarah tightened her hands on the reins and nodded toward a copse of trees next to a stream. "We need to cut through there."

"Are we heading for Calvin?"

The name was unfamiliar. "You know it?"

Macy nodded. "My father used to take me there for the farmer's market. Got the biggest watermelons you ever saw."

Sarah just nodded and kept facing forward. After the horse question, this could have been a test. There was no way for her to know if Calvin really had a farmer's market, or if they offered watermelons. Hell, for all she knew Calvin was just a name Macy pulled out of thin air. Any affirmative reaction would prove she was lying and all hell would break loose.

"I just relocated here, and I haven't really had much time to explore the town," Sarah said. "I'll have to keep my eyes out for those watermelons."

Macy said, "You'll thank me when you do." They reached the stream and Macy suddenly came to a stop. "Hold up."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. But it's starting to get dark. I figured this is as good a place as any to stop and eat for a bit. I don't know about you, but I've got a powerful hunger."

Sarah looked around at the tree cover, hearing the water even though it was hard to really see it in the dim light. Water was good for getting rid of a body; just drop it in the mud and let it drift off to somewhere else. She nodded and said, "All right. As long as it's not an imposition."

"Happy to have someone to eat with for a chance," Macy said. She climbed off the horse and guided him to the water for a drink. Sarah did the same with Bandit and then looked at the woods.

"I'm... going to get some firewood."

"Good idea."

Sarah went off into the woods and looked at what she had to work with. Rocks, sticks... anything that could conceivably cause a fatal injury. She picked up a stone and tested its weight in her palm. _Oh, God, the sheriff... she fell off her horse and she banged her head on the stone. She wasn't breathing!_ She tried to hold the stone in a way that wouldn't bash her fingers as well, but it was shaped wrong. She dropped it, and then began picking up firewood. _It was just a little spark, and it jumped... it jumped right onto her sleeve. And oh, God, I didn't know fire could move so fast!_

She had an armful of firewood when she heard movement through the trees. "Sheriff Macy? Is something wrong?"

"Didn't I tell you to call me Anna?"

"Sorry." The sheriff was just a silhouette through the trees. She moved closer to the sound of Sarah's voice. Sarah thought about dropping her firewood and taking the gun from her belt. Could she hit a vague shape in the darkness? It would take those damnable eyes out of the equation. Just pull the trigger and kill a shadow. She was about to put down her armful when suddenly Macy was in front of her.

"Sarah?" Macy touched her face, making sure it was her and not another tree.

"Something wrong?" she asked again.

Macy said, "You tell me."

Why were her damn hands full? She needed her gun. "What do you mean?"

Macy said, "I mean I know what's really going on here."

Sarah swallowed hard and said, "And?"

"What do you mean, 'and'?" Macy said. "I know what's going on, and I want to help."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine,**

Macy couldn't figure out Sarah's silence. "Sarah? Is everything all right?"

"Yeah. Just trying to process what you said. You want to _help_?"

"Exactly what I... said. Here, that's probably heavy." She stepped closer and took the firewood from Sarah's arms. "Come on, let's get back to the horses." She turned before Sarah could answer, leading her through the trees to the clearing. Harlequin and Bandit were grazing together near the water's edge. Macy dumped the wood and wiped the dirt and wood chips from her blouse. She turned and saw Sarah eyeing her warily with that cold, hunted look she had.

"Don't be upset. You were very convincing, but I'm the sheriff. It's my job to know when people are lying to me. I just want to know how long it's been going on."

Sarah narrowed her eyes. "How long...?"

Macy sighed. "How long has your husband been hitting you?"

Sarah stared at her for a long time without answering. She opened her mouth and then turned to face the woods, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of. It was nothing you did wrong; it's all on him." She walked up behind Sarah and held her hands out. She wasn't sure if it was over the line or not, but she finally rested her palms on Sarah's shoulders. Sarah tensed and Macy squeezed. "It's all right, Sarah. You don't have to be afraid of him. Not when you're with me."

Sarah said, "How did you know?"

Macy shrugged. "Little things. You were more afraid of spending the night away from home than you were of the robbers on the road. You don't want me to know where you live. You get this look in your eye sometimes. Like total fury. But then it goes away, like you've been trained not to stand up for yourself. And Bandit. The way you doted on him, the worry in your voice when you told me he was gone. I think he's the only friend you got."

"Yeah," Sarah said softly.

"Well not anymore," Macy said. She turned Sarah around and looked into her eyes in the darkness. "You got him... and you got me. I'll understand if you want to go on into town by yourself. I'm sure riding into town with the sheriff by your side would give your husband all kinds of ideas. We'll stay here for tonight, but in the morning I'll let you go on to Calvin or wherever you really live."

Sarah nodded. She still looked stunned.

"If you need anything, Sarah, you know where to find me now. There're rooms in town. Hell, there's a couch in my house. You decide you want a safe place to stay for a night, you know where you can find one."

"Why?" Sarah said. "You don't even know me."

"I know enough."

Sarah pushed Macy's hands away and stepped back, turning toward the stream. "You don't know. You think you do."

"All right," Macy said. "Fair enough, maybe you've been lying to me every second I've known you. It hasn't been that long, so it's possible. But I think I know a scared woman when I see one. I can tell you don't want to go back to that town and face the man who hits you."

Sarah turned to face her. 

"I don't want you to get hurt anymore. I can't make you stay in Roman, but I can make sure you know that you don't have to stay. You're not trapped anymore." She reached up and brushed a strand of hair out of Sarah's face. "Spend one night out here. One night without worrying about if he's drunk or if you're going to breathe wrong. Just one night where you don't have to be afraid."

Sarah closed her eyes. "Okay."

#

Sarah hadn't meant to agree. She didn't know where that came from, but it was out there. No way out now. To be honest, she wasn't sure she wanted a way out.

She helped Macy build the fire, and then they split the bundles of food Macy had packed in her saddlebags. While they are, she watched the sheriff over the flames. She was surprised Macy hadn't heard her heart beating when she said she wanted to help. The idea of the sheriff pulling on a mask and lending a hand while they robbed the town's bank... it was surreal. 

But Macy's true meaning was even more of a surprise. Apparently she wasn't as good an actress as she thought, but fortunately Macy came to a completely wrong conclusion. It was a conclusion she could use to her advantage, though. Being on the run from an abusive husband gave her a lot of leeway when it came to keeping secrets.

"You haven't said a lot," Macy said. "You okay?"

Sarah nodded. "Just trying to absorb the... cat being out of the bag." She licked her lips and wiped her sleeve across her mouth. "I tried... so hard to keep anyone from knowing."

"I've seen it happen way too many times," Macy said. 

"When I woke up and saw Bandit was gone, I panicked," Sarah said. She decided to see how far she could push the story. "My husband loves this horse. I knew that if Bandit was gone, he'd take it out on me. Say I should've been keeping a better eye on him. So I rode around to a bunch of other towns to see if anyone had seen him around. Roman was my last chance. If you said you hadn't seen him, I'd have had to go home and... face the consequences."

Macy stood up and walked around the fire. She sat next to Sarah and put an arm around her, drawing her close. "I didn't know. Maybe it was fate."

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked. Macy's hand on her shoulder seemed to itch, but it was a peculiar feeling. Anyone else, at any other time in her life, she would have shrugged the hand off and walked away. But in front of the fire, with Anna Macy, it felt right. It felt okay. Welcoming. The thought frightened her, but not enough to move the hand.

"I thought killing that man, Clark Wilson's brother, was the worst day of my life. I never would have thought that anything good would come from it. But it led to you getting your horse back. And it led to the two of us meeting."

"Sheriff Macy..."

"Told you to call me Anna."

Sarah looked at her. Their faces were surprisingly close, Macy's body firm against her side. She could feel Macy's fingers tightening on her shoulder. Sarah's lips were dry, but she didn't want to lick them and send the wrong impression. She didn't move an inch for fear of implying something. Macy's eyes looked yellow in the firelight, and Sarah couldn't stop looking at them. "Anna, then," Sarah said.

"Wasn't so hard."

Sarah blinked and looked down at Macy's lips. She couldn't want to kiss a woman. Not _this_ woman. Then Macy licked her lips, and the moisture caught the light from the fire. Sarah looked at her mouth and then her eyes. She was aware she was trembling like a child, and she quickly pulled away from Macy. She was gasping as if someone had been choking her and let loose their hold at the very last second. Her vision swam, and she felt tears in her eyes.

"Sarah?"

"Sorry."

"Don't be."

"That was..."

"It was my fault. I'm sorry. I don't know what I was doin'."

Sarah placed her hands on the stump she'd been using as a seat, only then realizing that Macy was sitting on it, too. Their hips were touching, her ass pressed tight against the curve of Macy's. That seemed hugely intimate, and Sarah stood up. _What in blue blazes?_ she thought. She pushed her hair out of her face and moved to the other side of the fire.

_Maybe I'm going crazy. Maybe I'm possessed. Kissing a woman!_

Macy seemed to be just as discomfited by what had nearly happened. She was staring into the fire, suddenly silent. Sarah sat down where Macy had been sitting before she moved, and rubbed her right hand over her left fist. She thought about suggesting they just ride on to Calvin, then realized it was just a cover story. She didn't have a husband in town, or a home. She pressed the heel of her hand against her eye and all she could see was Macy's tongue darting across her lips, the way they shone in the firelight.

The fire crackled between them and Macy stoked it a few times with an old branch. 

The moon was high overhead when Macy finally said, "I got two bedrolls. I brought 'em in case... just in case. I can set up over by the water if--"

"I'd like to sleep by the water," Sarah said.

"Okay. I'll just put mine up by the trees."

"Why? Sleep by the water for all I care." She stood up and went to Harlequin. "Where are the rolls? Here?" 

Macy said, "Yeah."

They started setting up their camp, rolling out the sleeping bags and dousing the fire. Sarah tethered Harlequin and Bandit to the trees and, when she turned around, she saw Macy stripping down to her underwear. She was wearing long johns under her clothes, and her hair fell loose around her face as she kicked the pile of clothes together to form a pillow. Her feet were bare, and Sarah surprised herself by staring at the toes. Such little feet. Everything about Anna Macy seemed so huge, but her feet were so small. Child-sized almost. 

"How're the horses?" Macy asked.

"Fine," Sarah said. She joined Macy at the bedrolls and decided that she would sleep fully dressed. She climbed into the bag, using her arm as a pillow as she stared at the sky. Anything to avoid looking over at Macy in those damned underwear. After a while, the sounds of movement from the other bedroll ceased and Sarah risked looking over. Macy had her hands under her pillow, chin lifted, scanning the sky.

"Do you like the stars?" Macy asked.

Sarah looked up. She'd never considered them. Sailors used them to navigate, but that didn't really help in the middle of Oklahoma. There were thousands of them. Clusters of little spots all across the night sky. The clouds from earlier had moved on, providing a clear view of all the little diamonds. 

"Supposedly billions of light years away. Planets around all of 'em. People, too."

Macy frowned. "People?"

"Makes sense, right? I mean, look at all those stars. Even if all of 'em just have one little planet, that's a lot of empty space. And..."

She was quiet long enough that Sarah said, "And what?"

"I don't know. Sometimes I think about what we do to each other, and I hope we're not the best the universe has to offer."

Sarah looked over at her and saw that Macy was serious. 

"I heard that all these stars have names," Sarah said, just to be talking.

"Heard that too."

"Surely not all of 'em. I mean, who could name _all_ of these even if they had a hundred lifetimes?"

Macy said, "And then people are supposed to memorize those names."

"I could never do that."

"Me neither. But I gave some of them names myself." She pointed up. "See those three over there? There's three stars across, and then two stars leading up?" 

Sarah looked and then saw what she meant. "Yeah."

"That's the old shoe."

Sarah smiled in spite of herself.

Macy scanned the stars and then said, "There? Those five stars."

"Sheriff's badge?" Sarah said.

"You're starting to understand me."

Sarah chuckled, and bit off the end of the laugh when she realized what she was doing. She had moved her gun to Bandit's saddlebag before dinner, and it was still there now. Macy should have been dead a dozen times over by now. She should have taken advantage of that stupid abuse story and used Macy's compassion to take her down. A quick hug, and then press the barrel into her gun and pull the trigger.

"That one," Macy said, unaware of Sarah's dark thoughts, "is my father."

Sarah looked at where Macy was pointing and saw a bright white dot at the far curve of the sky. 

"I think it's a planet. Mars or... Venus. I don't know. It's only visible every now and then. That's why I chose it. My father. Checkin' up on me."

Sarah said, "I wish my father had a star."

"Why not?" Macy said. "Just you, me and the universe. Pick one."

Sarah hesitated. She stretched her arm out and pointed at a dim spot at the far end of the sky, almost obscured by the trees. "There."

"Kind of far away."

"Perfect for daddy." 

Sarah looked at Macy saw that she was staring at her. She wanted to look away, break the stare, but she couldn't. Macy offered a wan smile and then broke the stare for her.

"Good choice, then."

Sarah touched the back of her hand to her cheek. Macy had seen her cry. She oughta shoot her just for that. She sniffled and said, "What are the other names?"

"There's a lot."

Sarah said, "We got until morning."

Macy was quiet for a long time, and then she said, "See those three over to the side, form kind of a square...?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten,**

Macy only stopped naming stars only when she realized Sarah was asleep. Soft snores were coming from the other bedroll, so she lowered her arm across her chest and stared up at the sky. She might mock the people who named all these stars, but she definitely envied them. Every night they looked up and they saw something new, something that they had the brains to figure out. They knew why the moon was bigger tonight than it had been last week and they knew why it went from a sliver to a big bowl of milk and then back to nothing. She knew it had something to do with shadows, but she couldn't understand how Earth's shadow could make a shadow that curved outward like a smile. 

She started thinking about what had happened by the fire. There'd been a frightening moment when she had no idea what would happen next. She didn't know if she was going to kiss Sarah, or if Sarah was going to kiss her, and she sure as God didn't know what would have happened after that. 

Macy didn't like the way she felt around women. Especially the pretty ones. They made her all twisted inside, made her think things that she shouldn't. That was the reason she sent Henry down to the Valley Bar as often as possible. She knew it made him uncomfortable being around all those waitresses, but she was just as awkward with them. She didn't know how the other ladies in town handled eating there. She could barely walk in the door without having to wipe off her forehead.

_Maybe all women don't feel the way you do when you go into that bar._

She silenced the voice immediately. She was just reacting to a pretty face and a nice body. 

_And who was the last man you felt that way about?_

Macy rolled onto her side and gathered her makeshift pillow up to block her ears. She closed her eyes and thought about how Sarah had leaned into her embrace by the fire. What if Sarah had kissed her? She'd certainly seen something like that in her eyes, and she wasn't sure she was adverse to the idea. Her mouth was dry just thinking about the feel of Sarah's body against hers. So what would it have been like to feel her lips?

"No," Macy whispered. She brought her arm up over her head, pressing her forearm against her ear as if the voice was something she could block out. She soon fell asleep with her own voice echoing in her head. _No, no, no, no, no._

#

Sarah woke suddenly, her hand frantically sweeping the bedroll for her weapon. She was unarmed, outside. Her memory caught up with her body, and she relaxed slightly. It was close to dawn, and the sky was just starting to turn blue in the far distance. More than enough light to see by. She looked over and saw that Macy was asleep, curled on her side, her lips moving slightly as she spoke in her dreams. She looked at the fire and felt like they had sat on that stump years ago instead of mere hours.

She pushed the bedroll down and crawled out, moving silently across the dew-wet ground in her bare feet. Bandit greeted her with a quiet whinny, but Sarah shushed him as she opened the bag and found her gun. She checked the ammunition and walked back to where Macy was sleeping. She cocked the hammer and aimed the weapon at Macy's forehead.

She uncocked the hammer and dropped the gun to her side.

This would be murder in cold blood. Cowardly murder at that, to shoot a woman in her sleep, sheriff or not. Murderer or not. This was the woman who killed Jack, the woman whose father had killed hers. Anna Macy had a debt, and Sarah was well within her rights to collect on it. She clenched her jaw and raised the gun. She cocked the hammer and closed one eye, using the sight to draw a line down Macy's jaw.

The gun clicked as she uncocked it, dropping her arm and turning away from the sheriff's uninterrupted dreams.

She wasn't going to shoot Anna Macy. If she couldn't do it now, there'd be no better opportunity, so she might as well face the facts. She carried the gun back to Bandit and stuck it into his saddlebags. The horse looked at her, but she ignored its wide black eyes as she walked back to the stream.

Macy was a sheriff. There was a time when Sarah would have considered that alone to be a crime punishable by death. Anyone wearing a badge was fair game. She knelt next to the stream and wondered what was different about Macy. Not because they had spent time together. She'd spent time with plenty of people she ended up killing and she'd never thought twice. She put her hand into the stream and let the water flow past her fingers.

Everything Macy had done since they met was based on protecting her. Giving her a place to sleep so she wouldn't have to ride home at night. Taking her out of the alley and taking her somewhere safe. Riding escort for her through the night just to make sure no one hurt her. Sarah looked over her shoulder. No one had ever done that for her. Her mother was long gone by the time she was old enough to ask, and her father believed in letting her learn from her own mistakes. No one ever stepped up for her, no one ever put their arm around her just as added protection from whatever the world might throw their way.

That made Macy different. Not just from other cops, but from everyone Sarah had ever known. Maybe that was why she felt so rested, like she'd just had the best sleep of her life. 

Sarah flicked the water from her fingers and then ran her wet palms through her hair. There was a tree on the edge of the stream, tall and thick and leaning out over the water. She walked to it and sat with her back against the trunk, resting her arms across her bent knees and looking back toward camp.

She told herself it was just a direction to look, one option of many. She told herself she was keeping an eye on the horses and trying to make sure she wasn't blinded when the sun started to rise in the east. Anything to deny the implication that she was watching Macy sleep.

#

Macy rolled onto her back, moved her hair out of her face with one hand, and rubbed her eyes with the other. She stretched and pushed herself up to examine her surroundings. The sun was up, but still low enough to be blocked by trees. She spotted Sarah by the stream, her head turned to look out toward the water. _No reason to panic,_ she said. _Look at her. Who wouldn't want to kiss those lips?_ The thought that she'd missed her chance made her heart hurt, but she ignored it. She cleared her throat and Sarah's head snapped forward to meet her gaze.

"Morning."

"Good morning," Sarah said. "How'd you sleep?"

Macy put a hand in the small of her back. "Terrible. I don't think anyone's ever had a good night's sleep on hard ground."

Sarah looked back over the stream, her brow furrowed. 

Macy stood up, suddenly embarrassed to be standing in front of Sarah in her long johns. She gathered her clothes and held them in front of her like protection. "I'm just gonna... be in the woods for a second." Sarah nodded and Macy moved toward the trees. She found a tree that afforded privacy and took care of her morning business, knocking the back of her head against the tree as she thought about the night before.

Something could have happened. Something very bad, and very confusing could have very easily happened by the fire. She couldn't decide how she felt that it hadn't. Deprived? Relieved? Upset?

"Anna?"

Christ, how long had she been crouching there? She stood up and pulled her underwear back up. She quickly pulled her jeans on, shrugging into her shirt as she walked back out of the woods. She left it unbuttoned and saw that Anna was busy striking their camp. "Sorry. I guess I kind of spaced out for a little bit."

Sarah said, "I was just worried about you."

Macy stopped next to Sarah, watching her load the bedroll onto Harlequin. Sarah ignored her as long as possible before finally meeting her eyes.

"I should probably take you up on that offer from last night. Riding on to town by myself. Don't know what my husband would do if... I rode in with a sheriff."

Macy nodded and looked down at her hands. "You sure?"

"Yeah. You done more than enough for me already. Saw me safely through the night. That's all you promised, and you delivered. Thank you for that."

"Yeah, a'course," Macy said. 

Sarah started to turn away, and then leaned in. She kissed Macy's cheek, closer to her mouth than her ear and pulled back quickly as if she'd been burnt by the contact. She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and stepped back. When she turned, Macy grabbed her arm and kept her from retreating. 

"What..."

"Stay," Macy said. 

Sarah frowned. "What? Here?"

"No. Come back to Roman with me. Don't go back to him. I don't want him hurting you any more. Come back to Roman and let me help you. Let me keep you safe."

Sarah blinked and started to shake her head. "I don't think that's a very good idea. What... if he finds me?"

"I'll kill him."

Sarah's eyes widened. "You can't. You wouldn't."

"I don't know why," Macy said. "I don't know. But the thought of him hurting you, and keeping on hurting you... I could pull the trigger if I had to. If it came to that." She gently pulled Sarah closer, her hand soft on Sarah's arm. Sarah's face looked like someone wanting to flee, but her body was leaning in to Macy like she had to stay. "Whatever happens, he won't hit you anymore. I can at least make sure of that."

"Why are you doing this?" Sarah growled. "For me? Who the hell am I?"

"Someone who makes me feel like I never have before," Macy said. 

Sarah said, "Let go of my arm."

Macy reluctantly released her. They stared at each other for a moment and Macy closed her eyes, the adrenaline of the moment fading and causing her to realize how idiotic she'd acted. She stepped back. "God, I should--"

Sarah put an arm around Macy's neck and pulled her close. Macy assumed it was an attack and brought her hands up to defend herself, but then Sarah's lips were on hers. Macy closed her eyes, furrowed her brow, and kept her hands up, focusing on how it felt to be kissing a woman. To be kissing Sarah. One of Sarah's hands was up in Macy's hair, and the other was on her cheek. Macy's arms were stuck, pinned between their bodies by Sarah's sudden assault. She cupped her palms around Macy's jaw and let her fingers rest on the smooth skin. 

Macy opened her mouth to say something, just to make a sound, and Sarah took it as an invitation. Macy tried not to recoil when Sarah's tongue touched hers, and she managed if barely. She pushed her arms up and dropped them onto Sarah's shoulders. Sarah withdrew her tongue and Macy suddenly wanted it back, wanted to feel that again. She tentatively mimicked Sarah's move, slipping her tongue forward and feeling Sarah's lips wrap around it and suck.

"Huh," Macy said with a sharp exhale, finally finding the strength to pull back and break the kiss. Her eyes snapped open and she squirmed to free herself from Sarah's grasp, her cheeks now burning red as she looked around for something to focus on. She found the dark cinders where the fire had been the night before and cupped a hand over her eyes, staring at the black grass as she tried to slow down her heart.

Sarah put a hand on the back of Macy's head and stroked her hair. Macy closed her eyes and leaned back into the caress.

"Are you all right, Anna?"

"Women don't do that with each other," she said, her voice rough.

"Who told you that?" Sarah said. "Some man?"

Macy looked out over the water. Her eyes were full of tears when she looked back at Sarah. She wet her lips with a pass of her tongue and leaned in again. Sarah closed her eyes, and they kissed. It was slow, measured, gentle. Macy was aware of Sarah's hand in her hair, and she put her hand on Sarah's hip to pull her closer.

When the parted, Macy brushed her cheek against Sarah's. "Come home with me."

This time there was no hesitation when Sarah said, "Okay."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven,**

It felt surreal riding back toward Roman. Sarah kept her horse a few paces behind Macy's so she could watch the sheriff. Macy hadn't spoken since they finished packing their things and started back the way they had come. She kept her eyes down, or turned her head to scan the fields they rode past. She seemed to be looking at everything but Sarah. Sarah didn't blame her. Everything about the day felt wrong. She should have been on a different road, should have been safe in the camp, should have been hauling Macy's body into the stream so it could get carried away by the current.

The ache in her chest surprised her, and she realized that it arrived alongside the thought of dealing with Macy's corpse. _God, I've really screwed this up._

_"You kidding me? You've got her right where you want her. Vulnerable. You get her all flustered and unarmed, you can show the people of this town what happens when they go up against the Lucas gang. You oughta run her nekkid through town before you finally put her down. Let her get a little humiliated..."_

"Shut up," she snapped.

Macy twisted in the saddle and said, "Pardon?"

"Nothin'," Sarah mumbled. She rode up alongside Macy and said, "Guess you're talking to me again."

"Lot on my mind," Macy said. "Not a lot of room for extra words. Sorry."

Sarah said, "Don't worry about it. I'm not really a talkative person, either." She ran her right thumb over the reins where they crossed her left hand. "Anna?"

Macy looked over and Sarah realized she didn't know what she planned to say. " _I don't have a husband, I'm not being beaten, you don't have to protect me because_ I'm _the only killer around these parts._ " She chewed her bottom lip and looked down at the ground without saying anything.

"Hey," Macy said. "You don't have to explain anything. I don't expect anything when we get back to my cabin. I just want to make sure you're safe. That kiss... was you being grateful. Trying to grab something you haven't had in too long."

Sarah was surprised to find there was a spark of truth in what she was saying.

"I'm just worried."

"About what?" Macy said.

Sarah decided to mix fact with Macy's fiction. "My husband loved me once. Treated me nice. But then things went wrong, you know. I figure maybe he just got to know me a little bit and decided I was more fun to hit than kiss." She pressed her lips together. "That's what I'm worried about. That when you know who I really am, you're going to hate me. You're gonna wanna hurt me, too."

Macy guided Harlequin closer to Bandit and reached out to touch Sarah's arm. Sarah wanted to slap the hand away, wanted to bark that she hated being touched. But for some reason, Macy's touch was fine with her.

"I ain't gonna hurt you, Sarah."

Sarah closed her eyes and nodded, and the sheriff dropped her hand and continued riding. Sarah was shocked to find her eyes were wet, and she ducked her chin even though Macy had to have seen the tears when they were talking. _What's happening to me?_ she thought. Then she looked up and saw the answer was riding a few feet to one side, blonde hair loose on her shoulders.

Sarah wiped the back of her hand over her cheek and wondered if putting a bullet in Macy's head would have been the kinder option.

#

There was enough room in Macy's barn for both of their horses. Macy poured some fresh food for Bandit, told the horses to play well together, and then joined Sarah on the porch. "Come on in," Macy said. She unlatched the door and pushed it open. She crossed to the coffee table and picked up a lantern and some matches. When it was lit, the pale yellow glow reached across most of the living room and into the kitchen. She caught sight of the bedroom door, standing slightly ajar, and felt a tug. _I want to take Sarah in there, God help me._

She rubbed her palms together, just for something to do, and said, "I should get back to Roman. Henry will be expecting me."

"Or you could kiss me again," Sarah said.

Macy looked into Sarah's eyes. She didn't remember crossing the distance between them, but suddenly Sarah's face was in her hands again and they were kissing. She expected the initial burst of insanity to wear off so the world could return to normal. She waited for the kiss to stop feeling so damn right. Instead, having her mouth against Sarah's started to feel like the most natural thing in the world. 

She put her hands in the small of Sarah's back and pulled her close. She wanted to pull Sarah into her, wanted absolutely nothing between them. Sarah broke the kiss to gasp, and Macy immediately pulled her back for another. Her face felt hot and she couldn't catch her breath. She felt like she was suffocating. When she broke the kiss, she saw Sarah's eyes were closed. Freckles she'd never noticed before stood out across the bridge of her nose and under her eyes, and Macy instinctively kissed them.

"Anna," Sarah whispered.

"Sarah."

"No, Anna... st-stop..."

Macy stepped back but kept her hands on Sarah's hips. "I've been waiting for so long for this, Sarah."

Sarah refused to meet Macy's eyes. "You've only known me for three days."

"I mean," Macy said. She stepped forward and kissed Sarah's temple. "I just mean I ain't never done... this."

"Never?"

Macy shook her head. Sarah began kissing her neck, and Macy curled her fingers against the material of Sarah's shirt. She pushed Sarah backward across the room, bumping the bedroom door open with Sarah's shoulder. Sarah put her hands on Macy's shoulders and broke the kiss. Macy opened her eyes and saw Sarah staring at her.

"What am I doing?" she whispered.

Macy stroked Sarah's hair and kissed her between the eyebrows. Macy couldn't tell if Sarah was shaking or if it was just her own tremors transferring into her. Her heart was pounding, but she was willing to wait. If Sarah wanted to pull away and leave, she would deal with it. If Sarah wanted to just forget the past twelve hours had ever happened, Macy would be fine with that. She slid her lips along Sarah's eyebrow and was about to whisper that they could stop when Sarah's hands began moving again.

Fingers curled around the collar of Macy's blouse and Sarah released a shaking breath. "Let me take this off of you."

"Hurry," Macy said. She closed her eyes and held her breath, focusing on how she could feel her heartbeat in her ears as her buttons came undone one at a time. Sarah swept her hands over Macy's chest, pressing gently through her undershirt, and Macy felt the shirt drop off her arms and down to the floor. She kicked it aside and lifted her arms so Sarah could pull her undershirt up and off. Sarah's hands brushed Macy's sides, her ribs and the curve of her breasts, and Macy couldn't stop a whimper from escaping. She bit her tongue trying to stifle it and dropped her arms to Sarah's shoulders.

When she opened her eyes, she saw Sarah staring at her breasts. The examination made her warmer, and she felt her nipples harden as if they'd been touched. "What?" she whispered.

Sarah blinked, as if she hadn't realized Macy was still there. She shook her head. "Nothing. God. Anna."

Each time they kissed, it was a little harder for Macy to believe it was really happening. It became harder to believe that she'd waited this long to surrender to her feelings. All those women who had turned her head, all those feelings she'd had. She just assumed everyone felt that way. She just assumed she hadn't met the right man. The only thing she could believe was this, right now; how warm Sarah's body was. How the skin of her cheeks felt under her thumbs. 

Sarah suddenly pulled away and Macy grabbed her. "Don't," she said, suddenly terrified that she'd walk out of the cabin and ride away.

"I'm not going anywhere," Sarah said. She took Macy's hands and walked her over to the bed. She guided Macy down and said, "Let me do this for you, Anna. You've been waiting a long time. Let me do this."

Macy pushed herself up on the mattress, her back against the pillows as Sarah kissed her chest. Her lips and tongue ran all over Macy's breasts and stomach. She cupped Macy's breast in one hand, brushing her thumb over the nipple until it was painfully hard. Then she licked her lips, looked up into Macy's eyes, and took the nipple into her mouth. She used her tongue to wet it, then began to gently suck. Her fingers and thumb massaged the other breast until Macy was writhing underneath her, moaning louder with each pass.

Sarah kissed Macy's stomach and dropped her hands to the catch of Macy's jeans. It popped loose, and Macy lifted her hips. Sarah hooked her fingers in the belt loops and tugged it down, pausing to make sure the long johns came down with it. As the material was pulled away, Macy was embarrassed to discover she could smell herself. Sarah kissed her thighs and Macy lifted her hips off the mattress with a groan.

At first she was glad Sarah took the initiative. She wanted to take note of everything Sarah did so she could do the same when it was her turn. But the second Sarah's tongue touched her, as soon as Sarah's slender thumb pressed between her folds and opened her, all coherent thought became a talent she didn't have. Sarah rubbed with her thumb, using the pad to circle Macy's clitoris before spreading moisture through the thick blonde hair between her legs.

And a finger, then a second. Touching her and spreading her open. Sarah kissed her stomach as her fingers moved inside, and Macy made fists in the sheets as she cried out. Sarah kissed up her body and kissed her breasts again, and Macy leaned down to kiss Sarah's lips. She cupped the back of Sarah's head and groaned. "I don't want it to hurt..."

"It won't," Sarah said. "It's gonna feel good, Anna. I promise."

Macy squeezed her eyes shut, pressing down on Sarah's hand. She bit her bottom lip and said, "Oh, Sarah, I'm almost there." Sarah extended her thumb to brush her clit. When Macy looked down, she saw that Sarah's finger was extended like a gun with her thumb resting on the hammer. Macy groaned and said, "You gonna shoot me?"

Sarah recoiled, her eyes widening and locking on Macy's face. Macy reached down and covered Sarah's hand with her own. "Oh, God... Sarah, don't stop."

Sarah dropped her head and kissed Macy's stomach, stroking with her thumb as she twisted her fingers inside of Macy's body. Macy dropped her head back on her shoulders, pressing her legs against the side of her bed so that her midsection seemed to hover. Everything from her ribcage to her thighs seemed overloaded, every sensation doubled, tripled, just magnified until she felt like she was going to pass out. 

She finally understood what she'd been depriving herself of. She grabbed Sarah's head with both hands and began to pant, whispering Sarah's name whenever she had the power of speech. Her toes curled, and her body went limp. She collapsed, struggling to catch her breath, her hands moving between her legs to cover herself. Sarah kissed all over the backs of Macy's hands before sliding up her body and kissing slack lips. 

"Anna? You okay?"

"I want to do that again," Macy said, her voice trembling.

"Oh, you're gonna be one of those," Sarah said. She kissed Macy's collarbone and ran her tongue up Macy's throat. 

Macy ran her hands down Sarah's back, her shirt rough under her hands. "I want to... do that with you. But I need... I-I gotta..."

Sarah shushed Macy and kissed her lips. Macy moaned, her hand shaking where it rested on Sarah's back. Sarah reached down and pulled Macy's hands away from her crotch and pressed her palm against her pubic hair. Macy jerked away from the touch, but Sarah kept her steady rhythm going until Macy began to melt into the bed once more. Sarah chuckled quietly when she broke the kiss, her fingers gathering Macy's wetness.

"It's okay," Sarah said. She kissed Macy's chin and started to slide down. "I got some more tricks I can use. But you're gonna owe me."

Macy closed her eyes as Sarah pushed her legs apart. She lay back on the mattress and swore that this time she was going to take mental notes for when it was her turn.

#

Macy took her time undressing Sarah. She knelt on the floor and worshipped Sarah's bare breasts, and then lifted Sarah's bare legs onto her shoulders so she could use what she'd learned earlier. Before long, Sarah was clutching handfuls of her hair and gasping her name. When she'd paid back what she owed, their lovemaking became more leisurely. They both climbed under the blankets and took their time exploring their bodies. At one point, Sarah mentioned it was sometime in the afternoon. 

"Your deputy might be worried."

"He knows I'm a big girl," Macy whispered. "Come here. There's something I wanna try."

In retrospect, Sarah shouldn't have been surprised by the aggression. Someone who'd been deprived for their entire adult life would have some control issues. But their grand finale was a wild, rough session in which Macy wrapped Sarah's legs around her waist and began thrusting, using the headboard for balance as she rocked the bed against the wall. 

Macy had finally collapsed facedown on the mattress, eyes closed, her face bright red. Her hair had fallen over her face in a web, and Sarah couldn't stop herself from running her hands through it. _Dangerous,_ she thought as she listened to Macy fall into a steady sleep. _Really dangerous. Deathly dangerous._

She stretched out next to Macy and put her hand in the middle of Macy's back. She wanted to watch her sleep, wanted to take the time to process what they had just done and what it meant, but before long her snores had joined Macy's to fill the small bedroom.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve,**

Sarah wasn't surprised when Macy finally fell asleep. She rolled them both, easing Macy down to the mattress. She noticed how Macy's hair always seemed to get in her face, as if it was trying to create a veil. Sarah tenderly brushed the strands back, hooking them behind Macy's ear and letting her hand linger. Macy moaned quietly in her sleep and arched her back. "Sarah..."

Just a simple word, but it made Sarah blush. She slipped her arm out from underneath Macy's shoulders, drawing the blanket up over her naked body before she padded quietly out of the room. She remembered the water Macy had taken from the icebox during their first meeting and went to it. She found a clean cup and drank it in a single swallow. She touched her wrist to her lips and closed her eyes as she tried to clear her head. 

She didn't know what had just happened between her and Macy. She didn't want to think too hard about it, but her mind refused to move on to any other topic. She could see Macy's face, twisted in passion, and the taste of her was still on Sarah's tongue. She lifted the cup for another drink before she remembered it was empty, and she put the empty cup down on the counter and ran her fingers along the cool side of the glass.

Sex was a tool. She used it to convince people to lend her support, or to distract them, or to make someone else angry. She'd slept with a fair portion of the people who made up her gang. It didn't mean anything. She decided a long time ago that she was one of those people who just didn't enjoy sex, but she could put it to good enough use. She had been sixteen when she first snuck into Deacon's bedroom and convinced him that she would be a better choice to follow in her father's footsteps. She'd never enjoyed sex. She just liked what it could bring her.

Sarah reached up and ran a hand through her hair. It was still sweaty, and she remembered how it had dripped on Macy's bare chest. Something about her sweat on Macy's body made her heart soar just thinking about it.

"What's the matter with you," she whispered. She looked out the window and saw the sky had darkened dramatically. Thick clouds were moving in from the north, stacked like blackened marshmallows. The air was humid and she knew they were in for a heck of a storm if it didn't pass them by. She thought of the horses, if they would be safe, and that brought her thoughts to the weapon stowed safely in Bandit's saddlebags.

Macy was asleep. Dead to the world. It was the first time Sarah hadn't taken advantage of the sheriff's distraction to hold a gun on her, and she had no intention of making up for it. 

"Hey."

She jumped at the voice and spun around. Macy was standing in the bedroom doorway, her undershirt hastily pulled back on to cover herself. It didn't reach all the way to her thighs, and Sarah had to quickly look away from such a tempting sight. 

"I just wanted to get some water."

"Get me some too?" Macy said. "Then come back to bed."

Sarah nodded and watched Macy walk away. She got another cup of water from the icebox and carried it into the bedroom. She kicked the door shut as the first rumble of thunder reached the homestead.

#

Rain pattered against the windows of the bedroom and thunder occasionally shook the glass. Sometimes it felt like the ground was being rearranged underneath them, but neither of them took much notice. Macy dipped two fingers into the cup of cold water and then let it drip across Sarah's chest. The water made goosebumps rise on her skin, and Macy bowed her head and licked them away. She traced the trail of water, holding Sarah down as she tried to writhe, and then took a hard nipple into her mouth and sucked until Sarah wrapped her legs around Macy's waist and pulled her down.

Macy kept her lips on Sarah's skin as often as possible. She could taste where the sun baked into the flesh of her neck, the dry sweat between Sarah's breasts deliriously appealing. Sarah was quiet during sex, and Macy was surprised to discover how vocal she wanted to be. She had to bite her tongue to keep from babbling, eventually resting on top of Sarah and nibbling on her ear. As she thrust her hips, she whispered whatever came into her head. "I want to make love to you every day. I want to wake up with you every morning. I want to feel you behind me when I'm sleeping."

Macy tried to get as much of Sarah between her legs as possible. She straddled Sarah's face, her thighs... she guided Sarah's feet and hands to her mound and closed her legs around them, rocking her hips with desperate gasps as she explored Sarah's body with the most neglected part of her flesh. 

Sarah's silence made it all the more arousing when she did speak. She never said much; just the occasional "Yes" or "There" or a heart-stopping "Anna."

Eventually, they both slept. The storm occasionally woke them, and Macy left the bed only once to make sure Bandit and Harlequin were weathering the storm well. 

It was early afternoon when the storm was finally past. Macy woke to hear silence, the sound of distant thunder continuing its march down the plain. She looked toward the window, and then searched the bed for her errant lover. Sarah was curled up on the opposite side of the bed, her back to Macy, just one good roll from ending up on the floor. Macy ran her fingers down Sarah's spine, and Sarah arched her back and purred quietly before looking over her shoulder.

"Sarah. You were about to fall."

Sarah rolled over and scooted closer to Macy. Her head found the curve of Macy's neck and shoulder, settling in. "I think I already did," she said softly.

Macy kissed the top of Sarah's head, her eyes closed as she breathed in Sarah's scent. She couldn't imagine anyone hurting this woman, couldn't think of any secret that would affect how she felt. She picked up strands of Sarah's dark hair and let it fall between her fingers, feeling it tickle her ribs when it landed.

"I think you're stuck with me, Sarah Lamb."

Sarah shifted, raising her head to look into Macy's eyes. "I won't hold that against you. If the time comes."

Macy pushed Sarah's head back down and continued stroking her hair. She listened to the sounds of Sarah's breathing, waiting to hear the moment she fell into slumber, but she fell asleep long before that happened.

#

The storm left the world oddly colored. The sky was a deep red, almost orange, and the air felt scrubbed clean. Macy sat on the edge of the bed and dressed while Sarah continued to doze. She tugged her boots on before she turned and stretched over the sleeping woman. Sarah's eyes opened just as Macy kissed her, and she fell into the kiss as if it was part of an extended dream. 

She stroked Sarah's hair and said, "I gotta get to Roman. Make an appearance. The storm didn't hit us too bad, but I need to make sure the town is okay."

Sarah nodded.

"You can stay here as long as you want." She licked her lips. "I want you to stay a long, long time. Just so you know."

"You made that clear," Sarah said.

Macy blushed and kissed Sarah again. "I better go." She brushed her hand down Sarah's cheek one more time before she pushed away from the mattress and left the room. She could feel Sarah watching her go, and she looked back at the doorway. Sarah quickly looked away and Macy said, "I'll see you tonight."

"Yeah," Sarah said.

Macy walked out of the house before she was drawn back to the bedroom. Twenty-four hours ago, she would have said she'd be fine with never having sex. Now it was a struggle to think about going a handful of hours without feeling Sarah's hands on her. _A woman. A woman!_ She laughed at the thought and felt a blush rising in her cheeks. She'd made love to a woman. She barely felt the humidity, the heat left over from the passing storm as she let Harlequin out of his stable. She gasped when she climbed onto the saddle, not expecting how sore she would be, and decided she would take a leisurely pace back to town. 

The ride gave her time to contemplate what had happened, what she'd become. She couldn't walk into town and tell everyone that she'd slept with Sarah Lamb. She was lucky enough that they'd accepted her as the sheriff, but if she revealed she was some kind of sexual deviant, the mayor would have her badge in his pocket before the cries of outrage stopped echoing. There was also the fact that she was an adulterer. Or would Sarah be the adulterer, and she was just the... mistress? She wasn't certain of the terms, but Sarah was a married woman. If nothing else, that would cast her as a sinner in most eyes.

It seemed wrong. She was happier than she'd ever been, but she couldn't share it with anyone close to her.

When she got to Roman, she saw that the town hadn't been as lucky as her homestead. The general store windows were broken, and the railing on the Valley Bar's balcony looked like someone had kicked out half the supports. Trash littered the streets, and a couple of people were in the process of cleaning up when she rode by. She dipped her chin in greeting, and everyone waved back with the shell-shocked distraction of people who'd come through something traumatic.

She tied Harlequin's reins to the hitching post outside the jail and headed inside, preparing herself for the worst. Clark and Joshua were still in their cells, but Joshua's face was peppered with bruises. He had an ice pack pressed against his temple and kept his eyes on the ground as Macy came inside. Henry was at his desk and shot to his feet when he saw her.

"Sheriff. Thank God. We were getting ready to send out a search party."

"Sorry," she said. "I got... tied up... taking Ms. Lamb back home last night. Storm caught me off-guard. What happened here?"

"Storm hit us head-on," Henry said. "Hailstones and there was talk of a tornado outside of town. So I figured the best thing to do was get everyone inside where it was safe. We put the prisoners in the closet, just in case one of the walls came down. Didn't want them getting hurt or making a break for it."

Macy nodded. "Good thinking."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. But they got into some fisticuffs in there. The one with the bloody hands darn near killed the one with the black and blue face 'fore we pulled 'em off each other. I think the first guy thought the second guy was too weak-willed. Thought he'd talk to you when you got back, tell you something about Daniel Lucas, maybe."

Macy walked over to the cells and looked at the two men. "You guys are both pretty stupid. You know that?" She looked at Clark. "What did you think Joshua was going to tell me when I got here?"

"He wants to tell you he's got a crush on ya. Wants to ask you to the big dance."

Macy smirked and focused on Joshua. "You okay? We got a doctor if you want him to come take a look at you."

Henry said, "Already offered. Said no way."

"The offer stands if you get to hurting too bad," Macy said. She scanned the room, the volunteers standing in every available space. "Other than that and the storm, how'd things go?"

"Fine," Henry said. "Quiet. No one bothered us."

Macy said, "Okay, everyone but the Taylor boys get outta here and help clean up the storm damage. Liam, Burton, I want you two to stick around for a little bit just in case we need the extra manpower."

"Oh, by the way," Henry said, "Newspaper boy wanted to talk to you."

Macy shook her head. "If he wants to ride all the way out to my place to deliver--"

"No, not Andy. The writer guy, George. He wanted to talk to you about Daniel Lucas and his gang when you got a minute."

Macy looked over the jail and then walked to the door to look at the damage to the town. "Might want to tell him he'll have to wait a bit."

Henry nodded. "That's what I was thinking, too."

"Get me a broom. Liam, Burton, keep an eye on the prisoners. Let's go help clean up."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen,**

Macy helped board up the front window of the general store and started across the street to see if Eleanor Palmer needed any help at the Valley Bar. She spotted Henry making his way toward her and slowed so he could catch up to her without running. He fell into step next to her as she stepped onto the boardwalk. He took off his bowler hat and ran a hand through his hair while he caught his breath.

"Hey, Anna. I just got done talking with Doc. He said there were only a couple of minor injuries to report. One fool came running from an outhouse when he heard the winds blowing. He had his pants around his ankles, so he tripped and got his hand caught on an exposed nail."

Macy winced. "Ouch. He all right?"

"Humiliated and needs a tetanus shot."

"I figure Doc can help him with the second part."

Henry nodded. "He said he had everything well in-hand, but there's no shot for making an ass out of yourself."

Macy laughed. "If only."

Henry cleared his throat and hooked his thumbs in his belt. He scanned the street and saw the board covering the front of the general store. "So, uh, how about you? Looks like you got things calmed down a little."

Macy nodded. "To be honest I didn't have much to do. Just picking up some trash and covering broken windows. You did a good job while I was gone, kept things going smoothly."

"Let one of our prisoners get beat," Henry said.

"Ah, I would have done the same thing. That store room doesn't have an exterior wall, so it's the best place to keep 'em during a storm like that. You did the right thing."

Henry nodded, modestly accepting the praise as he looked up at the Valley Bar's ruined balcony. "So, uh... I was thinking since I held down the fort last night and most of today, I could head out and check on the family."

Macy hated that she hadn't even thought to ask about his wife and son. "Shit, Henry, of course. I'm sorry. Are they okay?"

"Oh, yeah, fine. They made it through just fine. I sent Liam Burton up there right after it stopped raining to let 'em know I was thinking of them."

Macy thought of Sarah, waiting in her bed, and said, "Take the rest of the day off, Henry. You've earned it. Take tomorrow, too."

"Thanks, sheriff. I didn't want to ask when you've got your hands full with this whole Lucas thing--"

"Don't worry about it," Macy said. "You saved my hide by being here when I wasn't. Go on now before I change my mind."

Henry chuckled and fell back, letting Macy pass before he stepped out into the street. Macy watched him go and then looked at the open door of the Valley Bar. It was dusk, and the lights were already burning inside. She could hear music, and most of the tables were occupied by people sharing storm stories. Macy had made it a point not to go into the bar slash brothel any more than necessary, but a storm made it so. She stepped inside and took off her hat.

"Well, Sheriff Anna Macy," Eleanor Palmer said. "I didn't think I'd ever see you grace us with your presence. What can I get for you?"

"A list of the help you'll need," Macy said. "I saw the damage to the outside of your building. A couple of people have come to me to see what they can do to help, so I thought I'd compile a list."

"That's mighty kind of you. I think we're just looking for a carpenter to help us with the upstairs, but I'll ask some of the girls if there's anything I missed. Get you a drink while you wait, on the house?"

"No, thanks," Macy said.

Eleanor went off to question her waitresses, and Macy reluctantly sank onto a stool. There was a mirror behind the bar, fronted by a sea of amber colored liquor bottles, and she used the reflection to scan the room. Every time she'd been in the bar before, she had kept her eye on the table. She was an expert at the water rings and scratches of every table in the place. She didn't dare risk looking up and finding a pair of pretty blue eyes or a low-cut dress and feeling that urge.

After her day with Sarah, she was willing to risk it. The waitresses were all beautiful, as was Eleanor. The girls darted around the room like butterflies in dresses of every color, their hair all done up in a similar pattern. They flirted and laughed with their customers, letting a hand drift down a man's arm or fingertips to hesitate on the edge of a table near a man's hand. Macy admired their dresses, and the way their bodies filled the crinkled material. Long sloping shoulders bared by fallen straps, and the way the bodices dipped when they delivered drinks. She was attracted to women. The thought was so simple that she was amazed it had taken her so long to accept it. It was frightening, but liberating at the same time. 

Eleanor started back toward the bar and Macy tore her attention away from the waitresses. As gorgeous as the women were, as obviously available as they were to whatever men paid their price, there was only one woman Macy was interested in. 

#

Sarah watched from the window and waited until Macy and her horse were out of sight. She dressed as quickly as she could, trying not to relive Macy's fingers pulling the buttons free and sliding the material down off her shoulders.

On the ride home, she found herself distracted by flashes of the morning she'd spent with Macy. The world didn't hold much interest to her, not compared to the pictures flashing through her mind. Just remembering the way Macy's lips parted with a silent gasp of pleasure sent shockwaves through her body and made her grip the reins tighter with both hands.

After a few hours of riding, she stopped by a creek and knelt on the banks. She washed her face and hands, splashed some water under her arms, and hoped she didn't smell too much like sex. She gave extra attention to her face and eyes, trying to hide the fact she'd been crying for most of the ride. It was almost dusk and her features would be obscured, but she didn't want to take any chances. She didn't want Deacon asking questions she couldn't answer.

She could have been back to the camp long ago, but she'd been riding in circles for hours to avoid the inevitable. She didn't know what she was going to say to Deacon and the others. She had no idea how to explain her absence for the past twenty-four hours. And she sure as hell didn't know how to tell them they weren't going to hit Roman's payroll when it came back through. She couldn't tell the truth.

_I love Anna. I won't do that to her, or her town._

She didn't know how it could be true, but it was. It was supposed to be a goddamn lie. A way to get in close so she could do what needed to be done. How it had gotten so screwed up, she couldn't even begin to guess.

_"It screwed up when you couldn't pull the goddamn trigger on her that first night. You were weak, and she beat you."_

Sarah had her gun back on her hip, her hat low on her head. She was Sarah Lucas again, and she'd been wearing the Sarah Lamb mask for far too long. She stroked the butt of the gun and closed her eyes, willing herself to become the woman she had once been. The woman who her father had finally started to see with pride just a few months before he caught a bullet.

_"Who knows what might have happened if your new girlfriend's papa hadn't killed me. I might of let you take Deacon's place rightfully. Instead you had to play with the fat man in his cabin. Got to the top on your back, and now it's the only thing you know, I guess."_

Sarah walked back to Bandit. She wondered how many bullets it would take to kill the entire gang. Not many, really, but probably more than she had. That's even if she killed everyone with one shot. Deacon would fight back, for sure. She rested her head against Bandit's neck and closed her eyes. 

_"Could kill yourself."_

Sarah wiped her eyes and looked past Bandit at the woods.

_"That'll only take one bullet. It's the cheap way out, but that's you. Ain't it, Sarah? Cheat and lie and cut corners. Why should you wait for death like everyone else?"_

Sarah climbed back onto Bandit and gathered the reins. She wasn't going to kill herself, and she wasn't going to slaughter her entire gang. She just had to wait for an opportunity to present itself. She needed a way out of the present situation that kept her alive and kept Anna Macy from being destroyed. She prayed she was smart enough to think of something as she finally guided Bandit onto the trail that would take her home.

The smoke was her first indication that something was horribly wrong. She smelled it first, a thick wood smell that grew stronger as she got closer to home. By the time she could see it, she had Bandit at full gallop. He seemed reluctant to ride into the thickening smoke, but Sarah forced him onward. They finally reached the campground and Sarah had to stifle a scream at what she saw.

One of the big trees on the north side of the camp looked like it had exploded, packed full of dynamite and then blown to kingdom come. Sarah jumped from Bandit while he was still trotting, trying to take in all the damage at once. One half of the fallen tree had crushed the cabin next to hers, and the remnants of it were still smoldering. The entire village smelled like a campfire. 

Deacon stepped from one of the few undamaged homes, his entire left arm wrapped in gauze. She turned to meet up with him, and he came off the porch toward her. 

"Deacon, what the hell happened--"

His right arm came up and hit her on the side of the head. Sarah was thrown to the ground, landing in the thick mud and spluttering as she tried to get back to her feet. Deacon grabbed her hair and hauled her up. She spit a gob of mud into his face but he didn't pay attention to it. He hit her in the face again, and this time he left her where she fell.

"Where the hell were you, Sarah? Huh? While your people was burning? I hope to God you finally got rid of that sheriff. I hope you at least managed to do that."

"What happened?" Sarah asked again. Her shirt was caked with mud and she was trembling with fear, shock, anger, hate as she got back to her feet.

"Lightning," Deacon said. "Knocked down the target tree, target tree hit the building, and the fire... goddamn fire nearly wouldn't go out. The rain was still goin' on, but the trees... well, the trees let the lightning in but they stopped the rain from getting to us to put out the fire. Ain't that always the way? And they burnt, Sarah. Harold and that girl he was shacking up with? They burned alive while we listened to 'em screaming. Building's still too hot to even go in and get their bodies out. Like a goddamn shack on the sun in there. Damn near lost my arm trying to get 'em out."

Sarah bit back the urge to sob. Her face wasn't numb anymore, and the pain was starting to spread across her jaw. She cupped her face as she scanned the town. People were starting to appear; the survivors. She bit her bottom lip to keep from whimpering.

"Who else?"

"Edwin. Simon. Matthew. Everyone but Harold is laying outside of town, waiting for someone to bury 'em. That would be _your_ job, Sarah. Least you can do for not being here for your people." 

Tucker, a man who usually had an easy smile, was stone-faced as he approached and handed her a shovel. She took it from him and followed his pointing finger to where the corpses were waiting. Sarah started trudging through the mud, still rubbing her cheek with her free hand. She was nearly out of the village when Deacon called her name.

"You didn't answer me."

Sarah stopped walking and closed her eyes.

"Did you finally kill that goddamn woman? You were gone for over a damned day. Your people are in jail because of her, your people are dead in the ground. Please, God, tell me you found the time to put her down."

Sarah tightened her grip on the handle of the shovel and said, "It's not that simple, Deacon."

The woods were silent. Even the animals seemed to understand it wasn't a time to interrupt. Sarah could hear the leaves dripping, still shedding the remnants of the storm that had long since passed. 

"Get out of my sight," Deacon said. "Go bury your people."

Sarah didn't look back as she continued to where three more of her people were laid out waiting to be put in the ground.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen,**

As much as Macy wanted to be put out by being forced to stay in Roman, she was actually glad for the opportunity. The chance to sit and think, to absorb what she and Sarah had become. She bought a sandwich and some pop from the café, ordered the same meal for both her prisoners. They stayed on their cots, hunched over their meals, and Macy reclined in her chair with her feet up on her desk. 

She had a girlfriend. Or so she assumed. Sarah hadn't exactly seemed like a novice. Macy pressed her lips together as she thought about that, turning her chair toward the door so Joshua and Clark wouldn't see her blushing. What if Sarah did this sort of thing all the time? Ran away from her abusive husband, found someone to spend a night with, and then ran back home? There was at least a chance that Macy was just another notch on the night table. 

No. She couldn't believe that, not until she had some evidence. She had a lot to learn about sex, and partners, but it had seemed like anything but routine to Sarah, too. She sipped her pop, ran her tongue over her lips, and looked out the open door of the jail. 

If she was beginning a relationship with Sarah, did they have to decide which one of them would be the man? Could she be Sarah's husband? She ran her thumb over her bottom lip and breathed deep at the thought. It wasn't like they were married, or that they even _could_ be married. They were just very close. They had just been to bed together. Lots of people went to bed with people they didn't intend to marry. 

_I don't know if we'll end up being together forever, or just for a little while. All I know is I really want to be with her again._

There was a sound from the cells and she turned. Clark had his back to her, facing Joshua. The sound was whispering, Clark's low voice carrying across the empty cell between the two men. Joshua bent his head down between hunched shoulders, lower and lower like a turtle retreating into its shell.

Macy whistled. "Ladies. No chit chat."

Clark faced forward, his lips pressed tightly together as he picked at his sandwich. Joshua lay down on his cot, knees pulled up to his chest and his arm brought up to cover his face. His sandwich and pop were sitting on the floor in front of him, untouched. Macy stood up and glared at Clark as she passed his cell. "You got a lot to say, huh?" He returned her glare. "Eat your dinner," she said. She stopped between the two men and leaned against the door to the empty cell. She stuck her hands in the pockets of her jeans and looked at the man cowering on the cot. "Look, Joshua. I'm sorry about what happened to you earlier when you got put in that room with Mr. Wilson here. I wish that hadn't happened, but there's nothing I can do about it now."

Clark said, "You talk to her, I'll deal with ya when I get out."

Macy didn't bother to look over her shoulder at him. "You just be quiet, Mr. Wilson. Joshua, look at me. The way things are now, we're going to get a circuit judge in here to listen to your case in about a week or so. He's going to listen to what you and Mr. Wilson did, and he's gonna sentence you both to a few years up in the state pen. That's in Kansas, you know? So what we have is a long train ride with you and Clark here, and then a couple of years behind the same bars. You think what happened in my store room is bad, wait until he gets a chance to really unload on ya.

"There is another option. I can offer you some leniency. Maybe you both don't have to be punished for what happened. Maybe I can convince the judge to give you a slap on the wrist, make sure you don't have to spend time with this man ever again."

Clark got off his bunk and said, "You talk to her, you ain't never gonna be safe again. You hear me, Joshua?"

"Sit on your cot and shut up, Mr. Wilson."

Clark stuck his hand through the bars and pointed at Macy. "You better watch yourself. I don't know why you don't have a bullet in your skull yet, but it is coming. You best believe it's on the way as we speak."

Macy grabbed Clark's wrist and pulled until his face was flush against the bars. He cursed at her, pushing at the bars in an attempt to get away from her. Macy pinned his arm to the cell door and pulled the cuffs from her belt with her free hand. She snapped one end around Clark's arm and hooked the other on the farthest bar it could reach. Clark tried to tug free, but the chain just rattled against the iron.

"You might want to think twice about threatening an officer of the law, Mr. Wilson," Macy said. "Play nice and I'll think about letting you go."

She walked back to her desk, ignoring the clanging noise as Clark tried to free his hand. "You're gonna regret this, Sheriff. Mark my words."

"Consider them marked, Mr. Wilson. Joshua, you think hard about what you want to do here." She pulled her chair back and sat down again, putting her feet up on the desk and turning toward the door. She resisted the urge to smile as Sarah crossed her mind again. She wondered if Sarah was curled up, safe in bed, thinking about her. She certainly hoped so.

#

Sarah had taken off her blouse, left in only a sweat-soaked undershirt as she finished with the first grave. Every time she swiped sweat from her face, she left behind a dark streak of mud behind. She fought the urge to drop to her knees and cry. She'd never been a crier, had never let herself show that emotion. Not for anyone. But damn it, why did it have to be so goddamned hard now? She stabbed the dirt with the curve of the spade again and stood to toss it onto the pile growing next to Simon's corpse.

She hadn't heard Deacon's approach, but he was there when she turned around. He'd changed into a fresh shirt, the bandage on his left arm hidden by the long sleeve. He looked like he hadn't slept in a good long while. He walked to the edge of her waist-deep hole and peered down into it. "Reckon that's deep enough."

Sarah looked at the Colt strapped to his hip and wondered if she had just dug her own grave. "What are you doing, Deacon?"

"I wanna know why it took you two days to _not_ do your job. What were you doin' with that sheriff?"

Sarah went back to digging.

"You letting her brainwash you, is that it? Talk can be real dangerous. She can put all kinds of ideas in your head. I wanted you to do this so you'd remember. You remember where you came from, and the people who got you there. Your daddy and me. Remember when you broke your arm and Edwin was the man who splinted it? Or how about Simon? Everyone here knew he was your first kiss."

She stopped digging and closed her eyes. _Macy's lips were soft and yielding, hesitating before they parted and let Sarah's tongue in..._ Sarah shook her head. Simon hadn't been her first kiss. Not really. What she'd done with Simon hadn't been anything like a kiss compared to Anna Macy. 

"That sheriff is just trouble. She's a hurdle standing in our way. Your Daddy never let obstacles stop him. You know that. You wanted his job, now you gotta do what it takes to keep it. You gotta protect those people back there."

"You think me being here would have saved 'em?" she said. "You think I have some fireproof clothes that I didn't tell you about? They'd have died whether I was here or not."

"That ain't the point. You were gone when we needed you for moral support. You were gone when your people died. And you came back without finishing the job you set out to do."

Sarah said, "Fine. Then you tell me what you need me to do to make this right. You want me to kill the sheriff?" Just saying the words felt like a vice around her chest. She wanted to pull them back in, pretend they had never been said.

"We're past that," Deacon said. "This town is getting another payroll in less than two weeks. If we're gonna get it, we're going to need all the men we can get. We need Clark and Josh out of that jail as soon as possible."

Sarah looked out over the trees as she considered the plan. She'd looked at the angles and decided it wasn't worth the potential loss of life, but that was before they'd lost three more people to forces of nature. They needed Joshua and Clark if they were going to successfully take down the next payroll. She wanted at least five guys with her next time, if just for the distraction it would cause. 

"Okay," she said.

"You won't be there."

Sarah turned her glare on him. It was a strong, piercing gaze that had almost always worked in the past. This time he just ignored it.

"You've barely been here the past few days. Mentally or physically. I'm gonna be taking the lead in Roman, and you're going to keep the sheriff busy while we're pulling it off."

_Oh, God. No. Don't make me use her._

"You seem to be pretty averse to the idea of killing this woman, for whatever reason. So you're going to keep her as far away from that jail as possible while we're getting our boys. Think you can handle that, Sarah?"

Sarah lowered her head. She knew that if Deacon was in charge, they'd be heading into Roman with guns blazing. And if Macy was there when it happened, she would be right in the middle of it shooting back. If Deacon didn't get her on purpose, then it would be easy for someone else to get off a lucky shot and finish things by accident.

"Yeah," she said. "I'll keep her away. When?"

"As soon as possible," Deacon said. He looked at the three bodies and the one hole she'd dug. "You better get to work. This pace, you're gonna be diggin' all night." He turned and walked away from her, quickly disappearing into the shadows. Sarah pulled the spade free and climbed out of the grave. 

Simon Beadle. He was a few years younger than her. He was wrapped in a sheet, but she could picture his face clear as a bell. When she'd been tagging along behind her father, little Simon had been tagging along behind her. She'd seen her father kissing a woman in town and wanted to know what it was like, and Simon had been a good enough candidate. She bent at the knees and lifted him, cradling him against her chest as she moved back to the edge of the grave. She'd left one side sloped so she could easily get in and out of the hole, and she gently laid him down in the cold, wet dirt.

"Sorry about this, Simon. Sorry it had to be this way. Guess I haven't been a very good leader lately." She tried to think of something more profound to say, but words failed her. So she stood up, wiped the dirt from her hands, and climbed back out. She took the shovel with her and began to toss clumps of dirt onto Simon's body.

She'd been home for two hours, and she still had two other graves to dig. She would have to pick up the pace if she wanted to get any rest before dawn. After the first few layers of dirt had been tossed, she realized how quiet the woods were. She couldn't remember if Simon had been religious or not; there wasn't exactly a church in the village, and none of them really carried around Bibles. Still, it felt wrong to not have anything said.

She started to sing _Amazing Grace_ , but she could only remember the first few words before she had to start humming.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen,**

The gang gathered early the next morning. Sarah was exhausted, covered with sweat and dirt from the graves when she finally joined them. Her clothes were soiled, but everyone else had taken the opportunity to wash up. As she dropped onto the barrel that would serve as her seat, she couldn't help but think she looked like the only one of them that had gone through a fire. She pushed her hair out of her face and said, "Deacon came to me last night with an idea. Said we need to focus on getting Josh and Clark back. Anyone object to that plan?"

No one raised their hands.

"You gotta understand the risk. The reason I didn't suggest it myself is because I don't want to risk all of us just to get two back. It don't make sense. First time we went up against this damn sheriff, we lost Jack. The next time she got Clark, then Ernest got killed, and now Joshua is in her jail, too. There's only ten of us now, counting me and Deacon."

Deacon interrupted. "We come up with a way to take the sheriff out of the equation. She won't be an issue this time." He turned his head and met Sarah's eyes. "Only people she'll have watching the jail are her deputy, and maybe a couple of local boys. Nothing we can't handle."

"We're gonna need all the people we can get to pull off next week's payroll grab," Sarah said, taking back control of the meeting from Deacon. "That'll be dangerous, too, so I want to make sure everyone's on board with it. We're going to be doin' the gauntlet."

A few people smiled, but the newcomers looked around confused.

"Daddy used to pull out the gauntlet whenever he had enough people to make it worthwhile. It starts with four people takin' down the wagon bringing in the money. We hightail it out of town like our tails are on fire and, by that time, they just might be. Only two real ways out of Roman, to the north and to the south. We'll be taking the south route, even though it adds time to the trip back home.

"There's a bunch of trees not far outside of Roman on the south side of town. When we ride past, a couple of people are gonna be in there waiting. They'll ride out between us and the sheriff and whatever posse she has following us, and hold them off as long as possible. Anyone gets through, we'll have a second wave waiting by that big hill just before the stream."

"Problem with this plan," Deacon said, "is that--"

Sarah raised her voice. "The problem with this plan is that some of y'all are going to get pinched, or killed. Those of you acting as a distraction, there's a fair chance of shooting and prisoners being taken. And that's why we need as many people as possible."

A man named Travis Richards raised his hand. "What if we can't do it? I mean, like you said, we could lose more people trying to get Josh and Clark outta prison. What if more of us get thrown in jail or killed?"

"Then we'll call it off," Sarah said.

Deacon sneered. "We'll rethink the plan." Sarah looked at him and he held his hands out to her in false supplication. "Your people need money, Sarah. The money we got last time keeps going farther and farther, but these people got real homes outside of this camp of yours. They got homes and families, and they need money. If you're not willing to do what it takes to get that money, then I suggest you hand over control to someone who is."

"If any more of us get killed or taken, it won't be an issue. We won't have enough people to rob the payroll or, hell, even stick up a bank. Either your plan works, Deacon, or we all go our separate ways."

Deacon stood up. "Some of these folks don't have that option."

"They don't know what options they have," Sarah said, refusing to stand as well. She didn't want to get into a shoving match with someone twice her size. "They'll be fine."

"Your daddy brought these people together, and you're just going to throw it all away? He would be so ashamed if he could see you right now."

Sarah actually laughed at that. She finally stood and pushed the barrel away. "I bet he would be. That seemed to be his only color when it came to me." She turned and looked at the gathered remains of her gang. She cared for each and every one of them. She had grown up with some, had looked up to others as friends of her father. Now they were all looking at her for guidance. If she wanted to do right by them, she would have to nail Anna Macy to the wall.

"We'll get Josh and Clark out of jail tomorrow night. I'll take care of the sheriff so she won't cause y'all any problems. We get them back here, and then we'll set up the gauntlet. We only have a few days to get everything worked out, so it's gonna be tight. Everyone should take advantage of the next day or two. And get some rest. Once we have Clark and Joshua back, we're not even going to have much time to breathe."

#

When Macy eventually released Clark's arm from the handcuffs, he retreated to the cot to rub the pins and needles out of his palm. The rest of the night was quiet, and Macy dozed lightly as she waited for the dawn. It was an art that her father taught her when she was little, a way to sleep without losing awareness of your surroundings. She could hear the tug of fabric on metal as Joshua moved on his cot, and she heard when he opened his bottle of pop to take a drink. Horses occasionally passed by the open door, and she cracked an eye to make sure it was just someone passing through.

It was a little past dawn when she heard hoof beats near the door, and the sound of someone quietly commanding his horse to stop. Macy opened her eyes, her hands laced over her stomach, and watched as Henry tied up his horse and came into the jail. He smiled at her, brushed his finger off the brim of his hat, and looked at the prisoners.

"They keep you busy last night?"

"Barely a peep," Macy said.

Henry gestured at her relaxed position. "Were you doing that 'sleeping awake' thing?"

She pushed herself up in her seat and stretched. "You'd be surprised how refreshing it is. You oughta try it sometimes."

"I just end up snoring my fool head off," Henry said.

Macy said, "What are you even doing here? I thought I told you to spend some time with your family."

"You know my Elisabeth," Henry said. "Five hours of me is about all she can take, then she sends me back to work. She said if we had two prisoners, we might as well have two people looking after them. Strength in numbers."

Macy looked at the clock and pushed back from her desk. "Did Beth feed you before you left?"

Henry patted his belly. "A meal fit for a king, but somehow served to me instead."

Macy smiled. "I'm going to grab something for myself. Did you pass--"

"Grandma's Place is open and cooking," Henry said.

Macy clapped her hands together and winked at him. "Want me to bring you back something? Link sausage? Biscuit?"

"Just don't eat too much, get weighed down so you can't help me out if these villains decide to stage a jailbreak."

"Don't get cocky," Macy said. She pointed at Clark. "Watch him. He's stupid, mean and angry. It's an ugly combination."

Henry nodded, and Macy left the jail. Harlequin raised his head, stamping his front feet in the anticipation of a ride. Macy rubbed his nose and greeted him, apologizing that she was going to stay on foot for the morning. She scratched behind his ear and promised to let him stretch his legs before it got too hot, and walked down the boardwalk to Grandma's Place. As expected, there was already a crowd. 

Grandma's real name was Ruth Jensen, but she was called by her affectionate nickname by everyone in town regardless of relation. Her place hadn't started out as a restaurant; she was just a woman who, when her grown children moved out of town, still cooked a big breakfast every morning. She had kept her back door open and invited passersby inside to cool their heels and get something fresh to eat. Despite the fact she didn't charge, most people left a dollar or two to help cover the cost of her groceries. 

Word spread, and soon there was a line stretching down Grandma's front yard. Before long, her little house wasn't big enough to support her cooking. She took the profits she'd managed to save - and it was a tidy little sum, if the rumors were true - and rented a small storefront on the main drag. The eggs were absolutely unbelievable, and Macy ate there whenever she could get away with it.

Grandma, a slight woman with a tower of white hair piled on top of her head. She worked with only a small counter between her and the customers, since she claimed the entire endeavor was about feeding her friends and sharing conversation with them. Macy waited in line until she got to the door and Grandma spotted her.

"Sheriff Macy. Sheriff Macy, you get in here right now and get your food. We can't have you waiting in line when there're criminals about."

The people in front of her moved to the side so that Macy could move ahead. She apologized to them as she went around the counter and joined Grandma in the kitchen. A few years ago, she'd been forced to hire a few local woman to help her out with the cooking, but they did everything the exact way Grandma instructed so everyone got a "genuine Grandma meal."

Grandma patted Macy on the arm and then pulled her close. The woman smelled like dentures and hand lotion, and Macy breathed deep; it reminded her of the back room of her father's house. 

"How are you? Rough couple of days, huh?"

"Yeah, it's been tough."

Grandma turned her attention to the stove. "I'm giving everyone their food free today. Helping ease the burden just a little bit after the unpleasantness with the payroll."

"You're a good woman, Ruth."

The woman spun so fast that Macy nearly pulled her gun. Instead, she surrendered to the spatula and said, "Sorry. Grandma."

"You better watch yourself, young lady." She scrambled some eggs and sprinkled sliced ham over the bubbling yellow mass. "So, meals for you and Mr. Rucker?"

"Just a meal for me, and some sausages for Henry. And two smaller meals for the prisoners if you can afford it."

Grandma said, "Of course, of course."

Macy looked at the line of people waiting to eat. She turned her back on them and lowered her voice so no one would overhear. "Grandma, did you know anything about Daniel Lucas?"

The elderly woman crossed herself and mimed spitting over her shoulder. "Dead and gone, and good riddance. Thanks to your father."

Macy nodded. "I just mean, do you think it's possible he had a son?"

"Heaven forbid," Grandma said. "One of him was enough for this world."

"So it's impossible?"

Grandma sighed and rested her spatula on the stove, looking toward the back of the kitchen as she thought. "Well, there were rumors for a while. He was running around with some woman for a few years when he first showed up here. I don't know whatever happened to her. They never got married, but I suppose it's still possible they had a baby together." She looked at Macy and said, "When are you going to settle down and get a baby? I don't think I've ever seen you with a man. Girl as pretty as you should be fighting them off with a stick."

"Any of them come near me, I just might do that," Macy said. "I've got my job." _And Sarah_. "I'll be fine."

Grandma sighed as if exhausted by Macy's argument. She transferred the eggs she'd been making into paper containers. She folded them so they wouldn't spill and then put them into a bag for her. "Here you go." She grabbed Macy's wrist when she tried to walk away, and leaned in to whisper to her. "No one blames you. Everyone in this town knows you're doing everything you can to get their money back. And if you can't, they'll know it's because it was just this side of impossible. You don't have to worry." 

Macy was surprised to find herself close to tears. "Thank you, Grandma."

The woman pecked Macy's cheek. "You're a good girl. And you're a good sheriff. Don't let anyone tell you different."

Macy embraced the frail woman, and then left before she was made to cry. She made it halfway down the boardwalk before she heard someone calling her name. Her _first_ name, which meant... She spun on her heel and spotted Sarah coming toward her at a fast trot, on foot instead of riding Bandit. She wore a dress, the high collar unbuttoned to expose her neck, but that wasn't what drew Macy's attention.

"Anna. I was coming to find you."

"He hit you again?" Macy asked. She brought her hand up to lightly touch Sarah's cheek. The muscles of her arms were tense, eager to lash out violently at whoever was available.

"What?" Sarah said. She touched her cheek before Macy could, and Macy's hand covered Sarah's fingers. "Oh... right. That." She looked away. "I-I didn't..."

Macy stepped closer and lowered her voice. "Did he hit you because of me?"

Sarah met her eyes. "No."

"You spent the night with me and he... he hit you because of it. Sarah... oh, God, Sarah, I'm sorry." A tear rolled down her cheek and she didn't bother to hide it. 

"It wasn't your fault." She turned her hand around, lacing her fingers together with Macy's. "But I do need something."

"Anything."

Sarah swallowed hard. "I need you to take me away from here. Away from everything. Can we just... go away? Yesterday was such an amazing..." She licked her lips and ducked her chin. "Yesterday was something I'd given up on a long time ago, and I'd really like to make sure it really happened."

Macy ached to kiss her, but she didn't dare. Instead, she said, "Let me drop off the food at the jail and then we'll go. I'll take you back to my home. Would that be all right?"

Sarah nodded. "Yeah. That... would be perfect."

"I'll be right back." She reluctantly pulled herself away from Sarah and hurried down the walkway to the jail. She would apologize profusely to Henry for leaving him alone again and hope he understood. After years of sacrificing for her job, she was ready to be selfish. Besides, she would be back at her post in a few hours. 

A few hours couldn't hurt.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen,**

The sky was still thick with dark clouds that were, so far, reluctant to make good on their promise of rain. With the bedroom drapes closed, the room was as dark as a moonless night despite the fact it was barely noon. The light from the match covered the bed, but little beyond it. Macy used it to light her cigarette, wincing as the light hurt her eyes. She shook the match out, drew on the cigarette, and then passed it to Sarah. The embers glowed as Sarah inhaled, and Macy smelled the sweet scent of smoke as she blew it out.

"I needed that."

Macy kissed Sarah's temple and closed her eyes. "I hate that he hurt you. Let me go home with you. I'll get him locked up. For good."

There was a long pause before Sarah spoke again. "He's been in jail. Won't do any good." She turned her head and kissed Macy's neck. "You make me feel so damn good. I didn't know I could feel like that." 

"I know how you feel."

Sarah pushed herself up in bed, resting against the headboard as she took another drag from the cigarette. Macy's eyes were adjusting to the dark and she saw Sarah's body; her full breasts with the dark nipples, the slope of her upper chest, the thick waves of black hair resting on her shoulders. 

"If I'm not careful I'm gonna get fired. Running out here every chance I get just to be with you."

Sarah pushed herself up and twisted at the waist. "Really?"

Macy frowned and then chuckled. "Don't get all excited. It was just a joke, darlin'."

"I know," Sarah said. She wrapped her arms around her knees, and Macy stroked her bare back. "But I can't help thinking how it could be perfect. You and me, just runnin'. Getting on a train and going wherever."

"That sounds so nice," Macy said.

Sarah put her head down and Macy was content to give her a one-handed backrub until she was ready to say more.

"You ever have two choices? And it feels like whichever one you take, it'll make you a bad person?"

Macy moved her hand to Sarah's shoulder and squeezed. "I don't think that could happen. I think you choose whatever makes you happy, and then to hell with what anyone else thinks." She sat up and rested her head against Sarah's back. "If you want to leave your husband, well... I think anyone who has seen your bruises would understand." 

Sarah's skin was smooth, and she ran her palm over it, from her shoulder down to her hip. She curled her fingers and dragged the nails back up, making Sarah shiver. Sarah turned, Macy lifted her head, and they found each other's mouths in the darkness. As they kissed, Macy put her hand on Sarah's shoulder and guided her down to the mattress.

"Stay with me," Macy whispered as she settled on top of Sarah's body. "All day."

"That's the plan," Sarah said, and Macy detected a hint of sadness in her voice. 

She kissed the bruise on Sarah's cheek, settled between her legs. She guided Sarah's hands to her hips and whispered, "Keep your hands right here." Sarah did as instructed, and Macy began to thrust until the only sounds Sarah made were pleasurable.

#

"What are you thinking about?" 

Sarah started at Macy's voice; she'd nearly been asleep. She lifted her head from Macy's chest and looked at her in the darkness of the bedroom. _I'm thinking about how I'm betraying you. How it's tearing me apart to be here with you knowing what's happening back in Roman._ Instead, she ran her hand down Macy's stomach to her navel. "How nice your bed is. It's such a nice and comfortable bed."

"It's barely big enough for the both of us," Macy said. She kissed Sarah's forehead. "Not that I'm complaining, mind you."

Sarah pressed closer against Macy's side. "What are you thinking about?"

"The ride from town. You pressed against my back, arms around my waist. How nice that felt." Her fingers found the dimples above Sarah's ass and pressed, and Sarah squirmed. She lifted her head and Macy kissed her in the darkness. 

Sarah broke the kiss and rolled onto her back. 

"I lied. I'm not just thinking about your bed."

"What else?"

Sarah chewed her bottom lip. "Trying to decide what kind of person I want to be. None of the options seem all that appealing to me right now."

Macy covered Sarah's body with her own. "Really? None of them?" She kissed Sarah slowly, until Sarah was returning the kiss with passion. "How about the one where you're the person I love and the person who is in love with me?"

"Don't say that."

"I mean it." She brushed Sarah's hair out of her face. "I love you, Sarah Lamb."

Sarah pushed Macy's shoulders and tried to get out from underneath her. "Stop," she said. Macy rolled to the side and gathered the blankets as Sarah stood up. She looked at the floor, trying to find her clothes in the darkness. Twice, she picked up Macy's jeans instead of her own and finally dropped them on the foot of the bed in disgust. 

"Sarah, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"No," Sarah said. "Don't... be sorry." She sniffled and finally found her own pants. She pulled them on and then began searching for her shirt. She had to get out. She needed fresh air, she needed to stop lying for five seconds and be herself. She couldn't even tell if she was making a decision as Sarah Lucas or Sarah Lamb. She needed to clear her head. "It's sweet. No one... has ever said that to me before."

"Not even your husband?"

 _Damn it to hell._ Sarah said, "H-he said... it's not..." She pushed her hair out of her face. "Where is my fucking shirt?"

She heard Macy get out of bed and then her shirt was draped over her shoulder. "Here."

"Thank you," she said softly.

Macy put her hands on Sarah's shoulders and pulled her back. Sarah closed her eyes and let herself be wrapped in Macy's arms. 

"I just wanted to say it. I've never said it to anyone. It doesn't need a response, you know. It's just something I wanted to make sure you were aware of." She kissed Sarah's cheek. "I'm giving you all the time you need to decide what you want. But you should now that I've already made my decision. I'll wait as long as I have to until you're ready."

Sarah turned her head away so Macy wouldn't accidentally kiss her tears. "I think you should go."

"Sarah..."

"I think you should go back to town. Right now." _Before it's too late._

Macy was quiet for a long time and she said, "If you want to think, do it here. I'll go back to town for a little while, but I want to come back to find you in my house. Okay? Promise me, Sarah."

"I'll be here," Sarah said, thinking what would one more lie matter in the grand scheme of everything?

Macy turned her around and kissed her lips before letting her go. Sarah watched her dress, tugging her jeans up and then draping the thick plaid shirt over her back like a cape. As she buttoned it, covering up the parts Sarah had spent the better part of an hour worshipping with her lips and tongue, Sarah finally decided to put on her own shirt.

"I won't be late," she said. "I'll bring something for dinner."

Sarah nodded.

Macy went to the door.

"Anna." She turned. "I'm so sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about." She pressed her fingers to her lips and then flicked her fingers toward Sarah. 

When she was gone, Sarah went to the window and pushed the drapes open. The day was overcast and humid, with gray sheets of rain connecting the sky to the ground in the distance. It looked as if the world ended at a solid wall a few miles away from Macy's home. She heard the sound of someone riding, and soon enough Macy and Harlequin came around the corner of the house heading for the road. 

"Hurry," Sarah whispered. "If you hurry maybe there won't be anything for me to be sorry about."

#

She hadn't meant for the words to be spoken aloud, but it was like she had a mental blockage. Every word that formed in her mind seemed determined to shift until it was "love." Lying with Sarah, it had seemed almost impossible to prevent herself from saying it. Then she blurted it out, those damn four letters, and threw everything into confusion. Sarah was a married woman, even if her husband was a horrid person. Saying that to her probably just made her even more confused about what she was going to do. 

"Fucked it up, Harley," she said, trying to keep the self-pity from her voice. 

The air smelled like rain, and she picked up the pace to try and get to Roman before the storm arrived. She was almost on the outskirts of Roman when she heard the first crack of thunder. She looked overhead with a frown; the sound had been short and sharp. She was about to pass it off as hearing things when the sound came again, and there was no mistaking what it was that time. 

Someone in Roman was firing a shotgun.

Macy pulled the revolver from her holster and spurred Harlequin into a run. When she passed the Valley Bar, she saw waitresses and patrons had been drawn to the door by the gunshots. She whistled through her teeth and nodded for them to get back inside. "Get somewhere safe," she shouted. Eleanor Palmer appeared and repeated Macy's cry, pushing everyone back inside and closing the doors as Harlequin raced past.

Macy counted three horses in front of the jail, flanking the front door. The center man held a shotgun and fired again, splintering the wood Macy still hadn't had a chance to fix. The town's carpenter was going to be getting a lot of work very soon. Macy brought her gun up and cocked it, but held back at the last second. There was another horseman in the alley next to the jail with a rifle across his saddle. How many of them were there, for crying out loud?

"All right, everyone freeze!" she said.

The men on their horses spun to face her, and three long-barreled weapons were leveled at her chest. Macy brought up her meager gun and aimed at the man in the center. He was broad-shouldered with a roll of fat around his waist. A bandana was tied around the lower part of his face, but beady brown eyes stared out from beneath the brim of his hat. He brought his shotgun up and aimed it at Macy's head. "You'll be wanting to put your gun down now, Ms. Sheriff. Take a look over your shoulder real quick."

Macy didn't risk turning, but the day was just bright enough to see a shadow moving into position behind her. Someone on a horse with another long-barreled weapon. It was hard to figure the angles, but she assumed it was aimed at her head.

"You don't want to do this," she said. 

"Wrong, missy. This is exactly what we came to do."

One of the other men in front of her turned toward the jail and shouted, "Deacon!"

Henry was leaning out the front door with his own revolver in his left hand and aimed at Deacon's head. His arm was extended, most of his body protected by the doorjamb, but one of Deacon's men turned to face him. The gunshot was deafening on the narrow street and Henry's hand flew to the side. Macy only saw a cloud of red, could only hear Henry's scream, as she threw herself off the saddle. The gunman behind her pulled his trigger and hit empty air.

Macy slapped Harlequin on the side and he took off running as she hit the ground. Her shoulder sent shockwaves of pain through her torso, but she lifted her gun and fired twice at Deacon and the men flanking him. She scrambled to her feet and turned to see the man who had fired at her was lining up a second shot. She swung around and the arm she'd fallen on felt like it had caught on fire. She bit back a shriek of pain and fired, her shot going wild but forcing the man to take cover.

Macy tripped over her own feet as she raced forward. The man who'd tried to kill her was racing toward the edge of town in retreat. Deacon moved his horse in an attempt to block her, and she fired at the center of his broad chest. He twisted at the last second and cried out as the blood spread across the shoulder of his shirt. The dark stain grew with each pump of his heart, and he tossed the rifle to the ground to free up his hand.

When he reached to grab the gun off his belt, Macy fired one more time. This time the bullet grazed his forearm, but it didn't stop him. He got his gun free and brought it up. Macy pulled her trigger again.

The hammer clicked on an empty chamber.

Macy ducked back two steps and Deacon adjusted his shot. As he pulled the trigger, Macy dove forward and landed hard on her stomach underneath Deacon's horse. She grabbed his discarded rifle, chambered a round, put the butt against her injured shoulder, and rolled onto her back. She fired into the air near Deacon's head, crying out in anguish as the gun slammed into her body with the force of the shot.

A group of men ran out of the jail, and Macy rolled onto her side to see Joshua and Clark joining the masked men on their horses. "No," she said. She got to her knees and brought the gun up, but her right arm was useless. She tried lining up a shot with her left, but she knew it would be a waste of a shell.

"Let's go! Let's get!" Clark shouted.

The two horsemen with Joshua and Clark took off down the road, and Deacon aimed the gun at Macy as he rode past. 

"Next time, Sheriff," Deacon promised. He lifted his gun, spun his horse around, and took off after the other two horses.

Macy dropped the rifle and ran into the jail. There was a horribly large splatter of blood on the wood next to the door, and Henry's gun was lying in the midst of it all. She ran inside and saw three bodies on the ground, bullet holes in every vertical surface, and far too much blood than she could believe.

Henry was sprawled in front of the cells, streaks of blood leading from where he lay to the front door. He'd obviously been dragged by one of the men, his keys used to free Clark and Joshua from their cells. Macy ran to him first and saw that he was conscious, if barely. She knelt next to him and said, "Hank, you idiot. What were you doing?"

"Savin' your life," he said. "It worked."

"Sorta," Macy said. "What happened?"

"They shot the gun out' my hands," Henry moaned. "Dragged me in here for m-my keys. My hand really hurts, Anna."

Macy looked down and resisted the urge to react. Henry's middle finger of his left hand was missing, the two fingers on either side of it torn and twisted. His entire hand, and most of the sleeve, was covered with blood.

"We'll... get the Doc. He'll fix you up."

Henry squeezed his eyes closed and whimpered in pain. "Didn't even hear 'em comin'. Got Liam on his way out the door, a-and..."

"Don't try to talk," Macy said. She stood up and ran to the door. People were finally starting to come out to make sure everything was all right. "Someone get the goddamned doctor down here now!" 

She turned and looked over the ruin of her jail, the blood and the stink of gunfire. She stared at the empty cells and decided the Lucas gang needed to be taken down once and for all.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen,**

Macy managed to restrain herself to a weak grunt as her shoulder was put back in place. Eleanor Palmer kept her hand on Macy's arm and said, "Is that all right? Never done that before."

"It'll be fine," Macy said. "Thank you."

Liam and Burton Taylor had been declared dead by Doc Merritt as soon as he looked at them. Liam had taken a shotgun blast to the chest, and Burton's throat had been cut by broken glass and bled out before Macy had even shown up on the scene. He'd taken his only surviving patient, Henry, into the supply room to have some privacy while he investigated the damage done. Macy had taken it upon herself to search the pool of blood outside for Henry's missing finger, but she knew it wasn't likely.

Eleanor Palmer had volunteered her services as a nurse, and Merritt was only too happy to have some of the burden taken from him. Macy was sitting on her desk, her feet in her chair, staring at the supply room door as Eleanor examined her for any unnoticed injuries. She ran her hand over Macy's shoulder, rotating the arm a bit to make sure it was fine.

"No pain?"

"Uh-uh," Macy said. 

Eleanor moved her hand to the back of Macy's neck and massaged gently. "Don't beat yourself up about what happened here. You couldn't have known."

"I left him here," Macy said. "I should have stayed. He would have had a better chance."

"If you'd stayed, you all would have been holed up in here when those guys ambushed the place. You would've been sitting ducks. You dividing their attention--"

Macy pushed away from her as the supply room door opened. Doc Merritt stepped out and looked at Macy's arm. "Your shoulder?"

"It's fine. What about Henry?"

"He was a left-handed fella?" Macy nodded and Merritt pressed his lips together. "He's gonna lose these three fingers." He held up all of his own fingers, keeping the pinkie curled down. "I'll have to take 'em, or he'll risk losing them and most of his arm to gangrene. I gave him something to help him sleep. Boy was in a lot of pain."

"Did he tell you to take his fingers before he went out?"

Merritt shook his head. "Wasn't time. And he ain't exactly in a clear head right now."

Macy ran a hand through her hair and began to pace. "Elisabeth. I'll let her make the decision."

"Anna," Merritt said. "I got to do the operation now. I wasn't exactly asking you for permission."

Macy's shoulders sagged and she finally nodded. "Do what'll be best, Doc." He turned and went back into the room, and Macy started for the door. "Elisabeth still needs to be told. I'll head out there and let her know." 

"Sheriff..."

She got to the door before she realized Harlequin still hadn't come back. She stood on the walkway and looked down the road, putting her fingers in her mouth and whistling. "Harley! Harley, get back here. I need you now."

Eleanor joined her outside, and Macy looked both directions for signs that her horse was on the way back. She whistled again and shouted his name, but the street remained empty. She tried to remember where he'd gone during the melee. She remembered slapping him, and seeing a flash of his dappled hindquarters as he rushed forward between the two other riders. Had one of the bandits shot him? Who would shoot a rider-less horse? Was Harlequin lying somewhere with a bullet in his side, waiting to die?

She started down the street on foot in the direction Harlequin had gone.

Eleanor followed. "Where are you going, Sheriff?"

"Find my horse," she said. "Tell Elisabeth Rucker about her husband. And after that, I'm going to drag every member of Daniel Lucas' gang into town by their hair if I gotta."

#

Macy found Harlequin grazing outside of town. She checked him for wounds, chided him for staying away for so long, and then told him how glad she was to find him okay. She climbed back onto the saddle and rode the rest of the way to Henry's home. He didn't live far from the main road, and Macy arrived to find Elisabeth in the backyard hanging laundry. She hitched Harlequin to the fencepost and knocked to be let in.

"It's unlocked," Elisabeth said. She was a petite woman with honey-blonde hair, barely reaching Macy's shoulders when she was standing at her full-height. She bent down to take another shirt out of the basket and flicked it in the wind, making sure the stains were all gone before she attached it to the laundry line with two wooden clothespins.

"Elisabeth, I guess... you heard the commotion in town."

"Mm-hmm," she said. "Figured there's no reason to go running around like a damn fool just 'cause some other damn fool's shooting his gun off. No reason to think the worst unless the sheriff comes along and to tell ya..."

She tossed the pants she had just picked up back into the basket and brought her hand to her face. Macy closed the distance between them and put her arms around the woman. 

"He's alive, but he's hurt. Doc Merritt is doing everything he can, but there's a chance he's gonna have to amputate a couple of the fingers on his left hand."

"Oh, Lord. Lord," Elisabeth groaned. Her hands were fluttering against Macy's back like the wings of butterflies. She stepped back, put a hand on her chin, and then looked at the house. "I need to tell Brandon. Y-you'll let me know how Henry is?"

Macy nodded. "Of course. And I'm sure Doc Merritt won't mind having you haunt his door for the next few hours."

Elisabeth nodded and squeezed Macy's shoulder before she pulled away and went back into the house. Macy waited until the door was closed before she left the yard. She mounted Harlequin and, as she was turning to head back to the jail, she found her attention drawn to the north. Her house wasn't really that far. She debated making a side trip to let Sarah know that she would be late. Just a quick visit.

 _No. You said you'd give her time to think, so give her time._ She clicked her tongue and tugged on the reins, and Harlequin moved back onto the road.

She already had a partial list in her mind of people who would be part of the posse she took to go after the Lucas gang. There was no love lost between Mayor North and Daniel Lucas. When Macy's father was sheriff, Lucas would ride into town every two or three weeks, chose a business at random, and ride off with all their profits. More often than not, they would shoot up the entire place for no reason before riding off back into the woods. Despite dozens of all-night searches, posting men at the outskirts of town, and standing guard at the most likely targets of Lucas' attack, Isaac Macy never got any closer to capturing Lucas. 

A handful of the gang did get captured or killed, but Daniel Lucas himself remained elusive. And he never seemed to have any shortage of people he could recruit. The man was a mystery to the entire town.

Except one person.

The idea dawned on her so suddenly that she pulled Harlequin up short and looked at where she was, trying to find the most direct route to where she needed to be. She changed course and went down a side street, searching until she found the simple white house with a tan clapboard sign in the front yard that read, THE ROMAN CENTURION. She left Harlequin at the porch, rubbing her still-sore shoulder as she went around to the large shed in the backyard.

George Little had the doors to the shed open, his printing press already churning off pages. The newspaper was biweekly, but she figured he would have a special edition ready after the events of that afternoon. She whistled as she approached, and George's bald head appeared over the machinery. His eyes were magnified to inhuman size behind his tortoise-shell glasses, and his shirt seemed draped over an iron frame of a man rather than a real body.

"Sheriff," he said. He wiped his greasy hands on something before he came out to greet her by the doors. "I-I know I told Henry that I wanted to speak to you, but hell, I figured you had more important things to do. It's not that--"

"I'm not here about your message. I'm here about that book you told me you were writing a few years back. Are you still working on it?"

He blinked and said, "Oh. Yeah. Actually that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Please, come on inside." He led her across the lawn, scratching behind his ear as he walked. "I wanted to maybe add a chapter about the apparent resurgence of the Lucas Gang, get your opinion on it."

George unlocked the back door and led her inside. Stacks of newspaper stood on either side of the door, and notebooks covered the table. Macy stared at the mess with shock; George started his research on the Lucas gang when her father was still the sheriff, but she had no idea he had this much material. He had spent hours interviewing captured members at the jail before they were sent up to Kansas, and he'd found several women who claimed liaisons with various members of the gang.

George began clearing off a chair for her, and Macy got down to business. "I want to know everything you have on the Lucas gang. Hideouts, membership rosters. I need to know everything about a man named Deacon, and--"

"William Keane Deacon," George said. "Right-hand man of Daniel Lucas. I would have sworn he'd take over the whole kit and caboodle after Lucas died, but then they just... faded away. 'Til now, of course."

Macy stepped forward. "Why wouldn't Deacon take over? Did Lucas have an heir they were grooming?"

George rubbed his chin. 

"Okay, how about this. Was there anyone he was close with? Any woman he might have been sweet on who could have had his baby?"

"There was a lady," George said, suddenly animated. He dug through his piles of paper searching for something specific. "This was way before Roman, y'understand. Even before Oklahoma. Way before Lucas was causing problems for any us because, well, I don't know about you, but I was up in Boston back then. Still in grammar school." He smiled at her and continued his search. "Anyway, I heard some stories. There was a lady that Lucas was always keen on, kept her by his side wherever he went. This was back when he was roaming from one homestead to another, run out by sheriffs and marshals and all kinds. People assumed the lady was his wife, but there's no way of knowing that for sure, you--"

"George, please," Macy said. 

He took a breath, seemed to order his thoughts, and said, "They fought a lot because he wanted someone to follow in his footsteps."

"A son."

"Mm-hmm. Legend in the gang had it that, uh, Lucas finally killed the lady because she wouldn't give 'im a male heir. Other people claimed she died in childbirth and he just hid the baby away until he could grow up and protect himself. Lucas had all these ideas of a little kingdom and followers, like he was a royal lineage instead of just, you know, a common thief."

"What do you think?"

George said, "Oh, I'm fairly sure the woman died in childbirth. But she didn't give birth to a boy; _that_ was why Daniel Lucas never said anything about it. He gave birth to a daughter. He treated that little girl like shit, you know, because she not only lacked the male gender, but she stole the one thing he cared about in this world away from him. I think he saw his dead wife every time he looked at that girl." He sniffed and started to look in another stack.

Macy thought back to the person she'd chased a few days earlier. The person's build had been so slight, she'd assumed it was a young man. But she supposed it could have been a woman.

"I think it was his own fault. Lucas, I mean. The girl reminded him of her mama, but he's the one who gave the girl her mama's name."

"What was her name?"

George picked up another stack. "Uh, Sarah, I think. Sarah Lucas."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen,**

Macy stumbled backward out of the room, one hand on her stomach as she turned to find the back door. It couldn't be. It was impossible. She pushed the door open and stepped out onto the porch, breathing deeply through her nose as she tried to ignore the thoughts running through her mind. The woman who had appeared out of nowhere the same day the Lucas gang reappeared. The woman who claimed she owned one of the horses used in the robbery. And today... God, today, if Macy hadn't left home when she did...

Sarah Lamb was Sarah Lucas, the daughter of Daniel Lucas. She put her hand against the wooden post of the back porch and hung her head, her eyes closed as she sucked in the fresh air. 

"Sheriff?" George had come out behind her, still holding a stack of notebooks against his side. "I say something wrong?"

She forced herself to stand up straight. "No, George. Sorry. I was just thinking about how stupid I'd been." She turned to face him. "Thank you for the information, George. You gave me exactly what I needed."

He pushed his glasses up on his nose. "Oh. Well, I-I'm happy to be of service. If you need anything else about the Lucas gang or his family, you know where to find me."

Macy nodded and stepped off the porch. Her emotions vacillated between anger, humiliation, and regret. Everything that had happened the past few days, her life and her world seemingly turned upside down, had all been a lie. It was all a ruse to distract her, to get her mind off protecting her town. The gunmen who opened fire on the front of the jail were just a distraction to get Sarah inside. Just like this morning had been a distraction to keep her away from the escape attempt.

Of everything Sarah had done to her that was the one she would never forgive. Their morning together had felt like a gift, even with everything that came after. Now it was tainted, forever ruined by the truth of Sarah's true intentions. 

She climbed into her saddle and turned Harlequin toward the jailhouse. She wanted to reload her weapon, check on Henry, gather up a posse to start searching for their escaped prisoners, and then she was going to head home to see if Sarah had really stayed put. Sarah had been using her for days; it was time to turn the tables.

#

Doc Merritt performed Henry's surgery in the same room he'd done Daniel Lucas' autopsy all those years ago. Macy forced herself to go through the door, knocking as she entered. Henry was still unconscious, and Doc was wrapping what remained of his left hand in gauze. Eleanor was standing by his side, serving as a nurse. Doc said, "Boy got lucky, if you can believe that. A little closer to the wrist and I'd be taking his whole hand."

"Don't know if I'd call this lucky." She forced herself to look at Henry's mangled hand, blaming herself for what had happened. She looked at Eleanor. "I want every able-bodied man in this town on a horse, ready to go look for the place where this gang is holed up. Can you put out the word for me?"

"Of course," Eleanor said. She looked at Doc, and he nodded that he was fine if she left.

When they were alone, Macy said, "I let his missus know."

Doc sighed, holding his hands out in front of him. "I appreciate that. I hate that part of the job. I managed to save his pinky and his thumb. The others were just too damaged. Oh, and this." He picked up a kidney shaped metal pan and took something small and golden out. "His wedding ring."

"Elisabeth will be happy to get that back," Macy said.

Doc nodded. "I know you said every able-bodied man, but I'm more'n capable of riding a horse and beating bushes. I want to be part of the search party that goes after these bastards."

"Shouldn't you stay here and tend to your patient?" Macy said.

Doc sighed and stood up. "Yeah. Suppose someone should. I just feel so useless. I thought we were done with these fools back when your daddy took Lucas out. For a long time, it was a cut off the head to kill the body sort of thing. But looks like it just grew a new head."

Macy nodded. "I have to head out to my place. There's some business I need to finish out there, but then I'll come back. If people need someone to take charge while I'm gone, that can be you. Tell 'em to go ahead and start the search; I'll catch up to 'em." She mentally added, _Hopefully I'll have some inside information to make the search easier._ "If Henry wakes up, tell 'im... Tell him... I'm sorry. But I'm going to try and make up for it."

"What happened to him wasn't your fault, Anna."

She wanted to tell him that it was, that she'd let herself be distracted by a pretty face. But she couldn't bring herself to say the words. Telling the truth would label her not only as inept, but as a deviant. She'd lain down with a woman, and that was enough sin for most people. But to find out it was all a trick? Just a way to distract her while the gang ran wild? That was a sin for which no one would forgive her.

"I best get going. Take care of Henry, Doc."

He nodded and took his seat again, sighing as he finished wrapping the gauze on Henry's hand. Macy turned away from the bloody scene and walked from the room. She passed the empty cells, the doors still standing open wide, and felt her rage growing again. Liam and Burton had been taken away, but their blood was still seeping into the floorboards. If she had come in tomorrow to find this hellish situation, if she'd wasted the entire day in bed with Sarah...

She stopped at her desk to get more bullets and her mind went back to the reason she'd finally left Sarah behind. She loaded her weapon, slipped it into her holster, and went to the doorway. She stood where Henry had gotten shot and looked down the street. The clouds had broken, and random spots of sunshine shone down on the main road. Macy saw the splintered wood all around the wood from the shootout, and Henry's blood drying on the walkway under her feet. She heard Sarah telling her to leave, to get back to Roman...

_"I think you should go. I think you should go back to town. Right now."_

"What were you playin' at, Sarah?"

She decided not to focus on the small details of Sarah's deception. The simple truth was that she'd lied. She lied about who she was, made Macy care for her... made Macy fall in love with her. That was all she cared about at the moment. She walked to Harlequin and climbed into the saddle. She rubbed her sore shoulder as she took another look at the jailhouse, the destruction caused by a handful of men with guns. 

_Sarah did this. She made this happen. And by God, she is going to pay._

#

Sarah debated leaving a dozen times, had dressed and put on her boots in anticipation of going out, climbing in her saddle, and riding back to camp. But something kept her where she was. She threw open the windows to let in some of the meager sunlight, and placed some lanterns around the living room to get some light. Then she wandered through the space, trying not to think of what Macy was going through in Roman right at that moment. 

She found photographs of Macy with her father, a strapping man with broad shoulders and a shining badge on his chest. _The man who killed my father,_ Sarah thought. She tried to hate him. Tried to find it in herself to knock the picture off the wall and find satisfaction when the glass shattered. But she couldn't.

Macy had her hand on the old man's shoulder, squinting into the flash of the camera. The picture was at least ten years old, but Macy was just as beautiful then. Her hair was pulled back, curled. Much more feminine than the flat look she had now. Sarah wondered if they could have been friends back then. Just the daughter of a criminal and the daughter of a sheriff. Maybe they could have found a middle ground then.

_"Hell, if I'd known you were twisted, I'd've sent you after her way back when I first started hitting Roman."_

"Stop it," Sarah hissed. "Just shut up, old man. For once."

She walked into the bedroom. The sheets were still tangled, and she thought she could smell the evidence of what they'd done that morning. The room stank of sweat, and her mind filled with images of what she and Macy had done. Macy liked to be on top of her, liked guiding them when they were in bed. Sarah had been surprised, since she was the one with the most experience, but Macy was tremendously eager to please. She let Sarah guide them from below and then took over at her own pace.

Anna Macy was, without a doubt, the best lover Sarah had ever had. Maybe the only true lover she'd ever had. 

She walked out of the bedroom and stood in the spot behind the couch. The same place she had stood what felt like years earlier. Gun in hand, aimed at the back of Macy's head. If she had just pulled the trigger then, if she had just done the job she'd come to do, then everything would be fine now. She'd be at home with the others, splitting up their take from the payroll job and maybe another half dozen jobs too boot. Roman would have been theirs for the taking with Anna Macy's blood spattered all over her kitchen window.

She put a hand to her chest and leaned against the back of the couch. Even the thought hurt. She closed her eyes, tears tickling at the corners of them as she tried to stop her heart from clenching. "Should've killed her," she whispered. It would have hurt less at the time. It would have kept her from living in this hellish situation she'd created for herself. Lying to Macy, who she now knew she would die for. Lying to Deacon, who she'd known her entire life. 

The whole situation could still be ended with a single bullet. One in her own head. No more lies to anyone, just an extra body to clean up. She looked out the window to where Bandit was waiting in his stable. Her gun was still in his saddlebag. She pushed away from the couch and went to the door. It was the honorable thing to do, the only way she could get out of this mess with any of her dignity intact. 

She left the front door open and started across the lawn, her head held high. She could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks, and then realized it had started raining again. She paused, halfway between the house and the barn, and turned her head to the sky. Bandit was neighing, obviously seeing her and assuming a ride was imminent. Sarah closed her eyes and let the rain pelt her, slicking her hair back against her skull.

Sarah didn't know how long she'd been standing there. When she lowered her head and opened her eyes, she spotted Macy riding toward her full-speed, bent over Harlequin's neck as they rode through the downpour. The pounding of Harlequin's hooves sounded like thunder, rolling across the plain toward her. Sarah's hands were shaking, only partly because of the cold, and she looked toward the barn. She wondered if there was still a chance to get her gun from the saddlebags, but she decided against it. She stood where she was, waiting for the inevitable.

Macy pulled on the reins and dismounted while Harlequin was still moving, bending her knees as she hit the ground. Her gun was out of her holster lightning quick, aimed at Sarah's head as she crossed the lawn. Rain poured from the brim of her hat, obscuring her face through the waterfall. She used her thumb to cock the hammer of her weapon, stopping a few paces in front of Sarah. The barrel seemed impossibly deep, bottomless. But she knew that there was a bullet with her name on it at the bottom.

"Anna? Is s-something wrong?" Sarah moved her hands away from her hips, palms out to show she was unarmed.

Macy's voice was cold. "Tell me your name."

"You know my name. I told--"

"Tell me. Your name."

Sarah swallowed. She knew. Somehow she'd found out. Maybe she had taken Deacon as a prisoner, or maybe Clark or Joshua had talked. Maybe something had gone terribly wrong and her entire gang was sitting in the jail waiting for the judge to show up and sentence them to life in prison. Their first order of business would be to turn her in for a lighter sentence.

She licked her lips and tasted the rain on them. 

"My name is Sarah Lucas," she said.

The gun wavered, dropped, but then came up again. She heard a sharp and broken inhale, and she knew that Macy was crying.

"I'm sorry, Anna."

"Shut your lying mouth. Put your hands on top of your head and turn around. Do it now or so help me I'll just kill you now."

Sarah slowly put her hands on the back of her head, lacing the fingers before she turned her back. She felt like she was protecting her skull from a bullet, her hands shaking as she waited for Macy's next move. She actually yelped when Macy's hand closed around her wrist, certain it was a bullet at first contact. But Macy wrenched her arm down, snapped a metal cuff around her wrist, and then did the same with her other arm. 

"Come on. You're walking back to town."

Macy tugged her by the arm, forcing her to walk back to where Harlequin was waiting. Macy took a rope and tied it around Sarah's forearms, making a leash. "Walk out ahead of me. No sudden moves or you'll get that bullet I promised you."

"I'm sorry," Sarah said.

Macy spun Sarah around. Sarah could finally see her eyes under the brim of her hat. They were red, swollen with tears, and Sarah knew Macy had spent the entire ride out crying. "I said to shut your fucking mouth. You think I want to hear you say sorry?"

"It doesn't change the fact," Sarah said. "I didn't mean to break your heart."

"You didn't break it," Macy said. "You destroyed it. So it's no use trying to appeal to it." She shoved Sarah forward and said, "Start walking. And if you say another word, God help me, I'll end you and just say you tried to run."

Sarah kept her head down and started to walk. She'd only taken a few steps when Harlequin started moving behind her. The rain continued to pour down, drenching her and Macy both as they started their long walk back to Roman.


	19. Chapter 19

****

  
**  
**

PART II  
A LONG WAY TO HEAVEN

"I swear this ain't a love song, just one man all alone  
And he's got no map to guide him, just a wound inside his soul  
What's wrong with all of these stars tonight?  
They're all washed out in tears  
And I curse everything in sight for all these lost years  
And I hope that I can find you even though this road is dark  
And I hope to God I'll hold you once again inside my heart."  
\- Paul Gross, The Secret in Your Eyes  


**Chapter Nineteen,  
One Month Later,**

There was a water stain on the ceiling over the bed. Macy stared at it as the light from the window made the edges sharper and easier to see. She tried to decide what it looked like, finally deciding it was a sheep. She had been awake for almost twenty minutes when the warm body next to her pulled away. Macy turned her head slightly and watched Eleanor Palmer sit up and pull the kimono off the end table. She ran her eyes down Eleanor's spine, to the flare of her hips, and then looked back at the ceiling.

"You ever try and decide what that shape is?"

Eleanor looked at Macy, followed her gaze, and smiled. "Yeah. Couple of times I've been on my back waiting for someone to finish their business." She lay back down and said, "I finally decided it's a map."

"A map?"

"Mm-hmm. Of somewhere close to here. And that dark spot in the middle is a cave where there's millions and millions of bars of gold waiting to be picked up. Only problem is, there's no borders or landmarks on the map, so you'll never be able to find that."

Macy nodded. "I like that."

Eleanor sat up again and climbed off the bed. "You gonna stay here for a while?"

"Might take a long bath."

"I think you only come here for that bath."

Macy offered a weak smile. "There are a couple other reasons, too."

Eleanor bent down and kissed Macy. "Stay as long as you want. And take as many baths as you want. I'll see you for lunch."

"Okay," Macy said. She waited until Eleanor was out of the room before she got out of bed. She found her clothes on the floor and put on her undershirt and jeans, leaving the pants unbuttoned as she stood and went to the window. Eleanor's room looked down over the main street of town, and she could see the jailhouse by pressing her cheek against the glass and craning her neck.

The front of the building had been repaired, Henry's blood washed away and the wood replaced. Mayor Dawson approved a second deputy being hired to help take over Henry's workload during his recuperation. She'd also replaced the Taylors with a couple of ranch hands who'd ridden into town looking for work. She refused to hire them until she did an exhaustive check on their story, using the telegraph to wire back to Wyoming to make sure they were who they claimed to be. 

She wasn't taking any chances. Whatever remained of the Lucas gang had vanished as easily as they'd appeared. No one had seen hide or hair of them since busting their men out of jail and riding off into the sunset. Macy had led a group of men into the woods ten times in the last four weeks, following old hunting trails and hiking paths. The only thing they'd manage to find was an old ghost town, reclaimed long ago by the forest, that looked like it had been flooded by the last big storm. 

If they were going to find the rest of the gang, she would have to do something she'd been avoiding for the past month. She would have to talk to Sarah Lucas.

She finished dressing and went downstairs to the bar. No one even looked up as she descended, and there were no whispers as she took her usual seat at the bar. Five weeks ago, she would have avoided the bar at all costs. A lot of things had changed in that amount of time. She'd become a regular customer of the Valley Bar the day after she paraded Sarah into town, declared she was under arrest, and placed her in the supply closet. She hadn't wanted to go home, too many memories, and she couldn't bring herself to stay at the jail knowing Sarah was just down the hall. So she went to the bar and found Eleanor Palmer.

_"Got a question for you. If you don't mind answering it."_

_"Anything for you, Sheriff."_

_Macy ignored the flirtation in her voice, dipping her chin as she worked her thumb through a water ring on the counter in front of her. "Are any of your clients women?"_

_Eleanor said, "We used to have a couple of waiters who worked here. But they moved on years ago. Couldn't get 'em to stay put. Besides, I'm sure someone like you... well. I only know what I hear on the street, but I don't think you'll have to pay for it if you don't want to."_

_"I meant..." Macy cleared her throat and looked over her shoulder. "Do any of your waitresses... take female clients?"_

_Eleanor's eyes widened and she said, "Oh. Well, it's never come up." She placed her hand on top of Macy's. "But I'm sure we could figure something out between the two of us."_

Eleanor brought her a drink. "Got plans for the day?"

Macy said, "I have to go sit down with my prisoner."

"Ah," Eleanor said. 

Eleanor was the only person in town knew the whole story. Macy told her everything after their first night together, pouring out her soul while Eleanor stroked her back. She sobbed throughout the story, and eventually fell asleep in Eleanor's arms. Eleanor told her later that she was suffering from emotional whiplash. To go from loving someone to hating them in the space of a heartbeat could do terrible things to a person's heart and mind. Macy could believe it; she didn't think she'd ever open herself up to anyone again. It hurt too damn much to risk it.

"How is Henry doin'?"

Macy shook her head. "As well as you could expect, I guess. Depressed about what happened. Still trying to get used to using his right hand for everything."

Eleanor nodded. "Let him know we're all pulling for him here."

"He'll be much obliged." She finished the drink Eleanor had put in front of her and touched the back of her hand to her lips. "Thanks for the courage."

"I got refills whenever you need 'em."

Macy waved her fingers as she slipped off the stool. She walked out of the bar and reluctantly turned toward the jailhouse. Her new deputy, Maxwell Kirby, was leaning against the door with his thumbs hooked in his belt. Kirby was a tall, thin bastard with a thick black mustache. He wore a white shirt and black vest, and his long blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail. He scratched his chin as Macy stepped up onto the walkway and moved to one side so she could go inside.

"All quiet last night," he reported.

Macy went to her desk and glanced toward the supply room door. "How about her?"

"Not a peep."

Her other two helpers, Carl and Leonard, were eating breakfast at the desk that had once been Henry's. No, was _still_ Henry's. She was determined that Henry would still be her deputy when this whole mess was settled. She took her gun from the holster and put it into her drawer. "I want you to take the prisoner out of the supply room. Put her in the back."

"The back?" Kirby said.

"You heard me. Cuff her hands to the table."

Kirby nodded and went to follow her instructions. Macy walked out of the room and stood on the walkway, hands on her hips, head tilted to the sky. She heard Kirby inside, heard the clinking of handcuffs being attached and the shuffle of Sarah's feet. Her breath caught, but she forced herself not to turn around.

She'd only known Sarah Lamb for a few days, and she'd lived with the knowledge of who she really was for over a month. The good memories should have been decimated by now, should have been completely overwritten. And yet Macy could hardly stand to be in the same building as the woman she'd thought she loved. It physically hurt her to think of Sarah locked up in that little dark room, despite what she had done.

Kirby came outside and said, "She's all ready for ya."

"Has she had breakfast?"

"Eggs, a roll and some water."

Macy nodded. She pushed away from the wall and went back inside, passing by Carl and Leonard as she did. She took the sausage from their plate, wrapped it in a napkin, and ignored their cries of complaint as she continued down the hall. She rested her hand on the doorknob of the back room, steadied herself, and then stepped inside.

Sarah was sitting at the head of the long table, her hands cuffed to the metal circle nailed to the tabletop. Her hair was limp and hung around her face in dirty strings, her clothing replaced by a stiff man's shirt and trousers. Her feet were bare. Her hands were curled into loose fists, resting on the table in front of her. 

"Hi, Sarah. Been a while." She dropped the sausage on the table in front of her and Sarah eyed it warily.

"Don't worry, I didn't drop it in the dirt or rub it on the bottom of my boots."

Sarah picked it up and tore off a piece. She popped it into her mouth and chewed slowly before she met Macy's eyes.

"Anna, I'm sorry."

"Don't," Macy said, wincing at the rough sound of Sarah's voice. "I didn't bring you out here to tell that lie again." She pulled her chair out and sat down. "This table is where Doc Merritt had to cut off two of my friend's fingers. You know which one of your boys pulled the trigger that made that necessary?"

Sarah toyed with the sausage, peeling off small pieces and then tearing that into smaller pieces. 

"Where is Deacon? William Keane Deacon, your father's right-hand man. Yours too, from what I gather. Y'all have some sort of back-up plan if one of you got caught? Maybe someplace to go lay low until people stopped looking for you?"

"There's only one thing I want to say to you," Sarah said. "And you won't hear it."

"You want to say you're sorry? Prove it. Tell me where I can find your people. Tell me where I can find Deacon and Joshua and Clark and every other person who calls themselves one of Daniel Lucas' men. You tell me that, I might start to believe you're sorry."

Sarah closed her eyes. "I can't."

"Right. You only screw over the people you're sleeping with."

"Anna..."

"Sheriff Macy. You will call me Sheriff Macy and nothing else, or so help me you won't speak to another person ever again. You understand me?"

Sarah nodded slowly. "Yes, ma'am, Sheriff Macy."

Macy opened a drawer and took out a piece of paper. She placed it in the middle of the table and tapped it with her index finger. "I want names. The names of the people in your gang, and I want to know how I can find them."

Sarah stared at the blank page.

"Judge Choate is gonna ride into town soon. You know that? He got delayed in Tulsa, but he's coming. He's going to hear your case, and by God I'm going to make sure he knows what a twisted piece of work you are. Now if you want to spend even one day out of the rest of your miserable life outside of a prison, you'll make sure there's enough punishment to go around. You'll give me William Deacon, and Clark Wilson, and Joshua Lowry, and anyone else you can think of. And you'll do it right now."

Sarah put her fingertips on the edge of the paper and drew it toward her. She picked it up and, after a moment, ripped it down the middle.

"God damn you."

"I can't. I was their leader. It's up to me to take responsibility for what happened."

Macy said, "That's real fucking noble of you. I didn't expect it from a traitor like you." She took the torn pages and wadded them up. "That was your last chance. Your last opportunity to get any sort of mercy from me. I want you to understand that." She walked to the door and said, "I'll see you in a few days with Judge Choate."

"Sheriff Macy, may I say something?"

She put her hand against the door. She wanted to just keep walking, wanted to ignore the voice that she'd heard rise with passion, the voice she'd heard moan her name. But she wasn't able to keep going. She said, "Fine. If you must."

"I wanted to tell you. The second I realized how much I felt for you, how it was different than I'd ever felt before, I wanted to tell you. But I couldn't do that. You were someone I could see myself spending my entire life with, but the gang... Deacon and Clark and Joshua. They were my family. I couldn't turn on them. I couldn't just walk away from my whole life.

"If I turn on them now, that means my loyalty to them has a limit. If I turn them in now, it means I could have turned them in any time. And that means I could have saved you the heartbreak you're feeling right now. Could have saved us both a lot of pain and misery. So I won't do it. I won't put a price on my loyalty."

"You ain't putting a price on your loyalty to a bunch of thieves and criminals," Macy said. "You're putting them ahead of whatever you claim to feel for me. And right now, Sarah Lucas, that is all I need to know." She pulled the door open and stepped outside. "Mr. Kirby will take you back to your cell. I'll see you in court."


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty,**

Sarah was left alone in the back room for nearly half an hour before Deputy Kirby came looking for her. She spent the time looking at the table she was chained to, picturing Macy's deputy lying there with his hand mangled and bleeding. All because of her. The door finally opened, and Kirby stared at her for a minute like she was a piece of furniture he hadn't known was there. He unfastened her cuffs from the table, motioned for her to stand, and led her down the hall to the supply room without a word.

Sarah stepped back into her five by ten new home and Kirby unlocked her handcuffs. "Sorry about the wait. Sheriff Macy didn't mention you were still back there. Dinner's at the usual time. Try to behave until then, all right?"

Sarah didn't reply. She just waited for the door to close, casting the room into familiar darkness. The only light came from a narrow window high on one wall, much too high to see anything out of and too narrow to even attempt to use it as an escape route. She walked past the bare shelves to her cot on the far wall. She'd been allowed one pillow and a thin blanket, and that was it. No books, not that she could read anything in the darkness. No newspapers, not that there was any news she wanted to read.

She stretched out on the canvas and put her hands behind her head. She hadn't been prepared for seeing Macy again. Just being in the same room as her was daunting. She'd had a lot of time to think, a lot of time with just a sliver of light and half-heard voices to keep her company. She'd never felt so cut off from the rest of the world before. After a bit of madness at the beginning, she had overcome the solitude and used her time to reconsider what she had done and the path she'd taken.

_Why couldn't I have just made the choice? Now that I'm in this room it seems so simple. I could have left Deacon and the damned gang behind. I could have had a real life with Anna._

Now it was too late. Even if she tried to turn against the rest of the gang, any information she gave would be out of date. Deacon was too smart to stay in the camp after Sarah was taken prisoner. She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds outside of her small cell.

#

Judge Abraham Choate rode into town on Tuesday, one month and three days after Sarah Lucas was taken into custody. He arrived with his typical revenue; two lawyers, a bailiff, three witnesses who could provide an impartial viewpoint in the case of a stalemate, and a wagon full of law books. He was a rotund man with a bushy white mustache, his eyes hidden behind violet-colored glasses.

Macy was waiting outside of City Hall when Choate arrived, Mayor Dawson standing slightly in front of her as the judge brought his entourage to a halt. He climbed off the seat of his wagon, brushed off his trousers, and extended a hand to Dawson. "Mr. Mayor," he said. "I hear you have quite the trial for me this time."

Dawson stepped forward to take the judge's hand. "Yessir. I remember you were a bit upset you never got a chance to make Daniel Lucas pay for his crimes. Sheriff Macy here got you the next best thing. Turns out Mr. Lucas had a daughter trying to follow in his footsteps."

Choate's eyes widened behind his glasses. "Well, hell," he said. He extended his hand to Macy next. "I gotta admit, I was one of the naysayers when I heard there was a lady sheriff 'round these parts. But I guess you went and proved 'em all wrong. Pleasure to meet you, Abe Choate."

"Anna Macy."

"Your daddy was a fine man, a good sheriff," he said.

"Thank you."

Choate slapped a hand on his stomach and turned to look at the people he'd arrived with. "Will we be setting up in the same place as usual?"

Dawson nodded. "Got the community center all cleaned out for y'all. We got a few other small cases to deal with first, so we'll let Miss Lucas be the main event."

"Well, okay," Choate said. "We'll let you know when we're ready to get underway. Mr. Mayor. Sheriff."

Dawson turned away from them and guided Macy to the door of City Hall. "I assume you're gonna be present for the hearings."

"As many of them as I can," she said. "I'm gonna let Henry take over the Sarah Lucas trial, though."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Dawson said.

"He was there during the jailbreak," Macy said. Not to mention the fact he needed to feel useful, and she needed to keep as much distance between herself and Sarah Lucas as possible. "I trust him."

Dawson checked his watch and dipped his chin in a quick nod. "All right, fine, sure. Just go and make sure he's up to the task. I ain't seen him since Doc made him come in to check up on his hand."

Macy nodded. "I'll do it now."

She left the porch and walked down the street to the jail. Harlequin was eager for a ride, and she took the long route along the south side of town to Henry's house. Elisabeth was on the front porch of the Rucker house, knitting and humming to herself. She looked up as Macy approached and managed a weak smile, putting aside her shawl as Harlequin slowed to a stop in front of their gate.

"Don't let us disturb you, Ms. Rucker," Macy said. "I'm just here looking for your husband."

"He's inside, if he feels like talking." She smoothed her dress over her legs, dipping her chin so she wouldn't have to meet Macy's eyes. "Seems like he's not too interested in doing anything these days."

"I'm gonna see if I can do something about that." She nodded at the shawl as she stepped onto the porch. "You do beautiful work."

Elisabeth smiled. "Glad you think so. Try to act surprised on Christmas."

Macy chuckled and went through the open front door. "Henry? You still hauntin' this place?"

"Back here."

She followed the sound of his voice to the dining room. Henry was sitting at the head of the table, a pile of silverware scattered on the place mat in front of him. He was holding a fork in his right hand, trying to make the remaining two fingers of his left hand cooperate with the knife. His hair had grown out, and he was sporting a full salt-and-pepper beard. He was wearing a white T-shirt and threadbare trousers with the suspenders hanging loose around his hips.

"Beard looks good," she said, for lack of anything else to say.

"Good," he said. "Not much choice in the matter. Kind of hard to hold the razor without slicing my own throat."

Macy pulled out the chair across from him and sat down. "Hope you're not trying that kind of humor on Elisabeth."

"Humor?"

"Whatever you want to call it."

Henry tossed the silverware down and ran his thumb along the side of his nose. "Look, just say what you're here to say. I'm fired, right?"

"No," Macy said. She took off her hat and dropped it onto the table. "Not even a little bit. Judge Choate just rode in and I wanna make sure you're up for representing the law of Roman. You were the one who faced down the Lucas gang when they showed up last--"

"I was the one who let them break two of their men out of our jail, and lost half my hand in the process, you mean."

Macy leaned back in her chair. "Look, we both came through this thing beaten up. You have physical scars, and I'm..." She looked at the pile of silverware. "But I don't doubt we're strong enough to make it through to the other side. Whatever was left of the Lucas gang is in the wind. Once we get Sarah Lucas sentenced and dropped off in Kansas, the sooner we can start putting everything behind us. You're a hell of a deputy, and being short three fingers won't change that. I got faith in you. I need you to have faith in me, too. Otherwise this whole thing will fall apart and we'll be left with nothing."

Henry picked up his fork again. 

Macy reached across the table and rearranged the fork's handle. She used Henry's pinky to pinch it against his palm and rested the bottom of the handle on his thumb. Henry tested it, using it like a shovel, and nodded his approval. He put the fork down and looked across the table at her.

"Look, like you said. You can see what the Lucas gang cost me. But I still don't know why it's made you..."

Macy frowned.

"Ah, hell, Anna. You know what I mean. You're a different person than you were last month. You don't smile as much for one. You're quieter. You're spending a hell of a lot of time at the Valley Bar, and if you think people aren't gossiping..." He looked toward the front of the house to make sure Elisabeth was still outside. "People are spreading lies. Saying you spend the night upstairs with the ladies."

"I've been spending nights upstairs at the Valley Bar," Macy said. "Alone. I don't particularly want to go home most nights."

Henry shrugged and waited for a more in-depth explanation.

"Bad memories."

Henry said, "Look, if you can't tell me..."

"Sarah Lucas pretended she was... my friend. She lied to me. Spent time at my house. She made me feel comfortable for the first time in my entire life. And then I found out the entire thing was some sick, mean game. I can't stand to look at her, Henry. I can't stand to be in the same room as her because I want to kick her. I wanna tear her goddamn head off with my bare hands. If she'd just shot off my fingers, I could work on that. Figure out new ways to hold silverware, learn to use my right hand. But she destroyed my heart. I ain't got another one of those.

"I don't trust myself anymore. I don't much like myself anymore, either. Because of her. So that's why I need your help, Henry. You're the only one I trust with this."

Henry said, "I trust you, too, Anna. I'll be there for whatever you need. If that means I gotta shave off this gopher somehow, I'll find a way. The two of us have gotten this far together, so why give up now, right?"

Macy smiled and nodded. "You got that right, Henry."

"Tell me when you need me and I'll be there."

"Tomorrow. At the jail. I need you to start making your presence known again. You're my deputy, and Kirby is just filling space until you're ready to come back."

Henry held out his right hand. Macy ignored it and held out her left hand. Henry stared at it for a moment, and then gripped her hand with his. She squeezed gently, and he shook her hand once before letting it go.

"Little tip on the beard? Let Elisabeth help you out."

He shook his head. "She's gone through way too much already. I can't impose on her. I don't want her to think I'm an invalid..."

"Let her help you, Henry. Trust me." She picked up her hat and said, "I'll see you at the jailhouse tomorrow."

"That means you'll be there, too?"

Macy managed a grin. "If I want you there to support me, I gotta be there to support you. We'll figure it out together."

Henry nodded slowly. He picked up a spoon and arranged it the way Macy suggested. She left the house as he was still practicing with it. Elisabeth had stopped rocking, but she was still working on her shawl. She didn't look up, and Macy knew that she'd listened to every word. "Sorry if I overstepped, Mrs. Rucker."

Elisabeth shook her head, still looking down to hide her smile. "Not at all, Sheriff Macy." She looked up. "About your shawl... you have a favorite color?"

"Yellow."

"I'll remember that. Thank you, Sheriff."

Macy stepped off the porch and walked to where Harlequin was grazing outside of Henry's fence. She rubbed his neck, letting him finish his meal as she looked down the road. She'd been sulking for a month, kicking herself for the mistake she had made with Sarah. That was long enough. It was time for her to dust herself off and get back to doing what she did best. Harlequin finally finished his snack, and Macy wrapped his reins around her hand to lead him down the street back to the jail.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty-One,**

Once a week, a woman named Amelia escorted Sarah to the jail's washroom so she could take a bath. Amelia worked at the Valley Bar, and she knew her way around a handgun. Amelia would stand at the door and focus on the far wall while Sarah undressed, observant but offering her a modicum of privacy. It was a humiliating experience despite Amelia's professionalism, and Sarah dreaded it every week.

This week, the humiliation was doubled. She'd already taken her weekly ablutions on Saturday, but it was Tuesday and apparently she was supposed to wash up again for her court appearance. She sat on the edge of her cot with the towel they'd given her draped over one shoulder. Sarah stood up when she heard the key in the lock, turned her back on the door, and laced her fingers behind her head. The door swung open and Sarah winced at the sudden flood of light.

"Come on."

Sarah looked over her shoulder to make sure she hadn't heard wrong. Macy was holding the door open, her free hand on the butt of her gun, looking at the floor rather than at Sarah. Sarah lowered her hands and hesitantly stepped out of the cell. She looked down the hall and saw Deputy Kirby standing by the front door. His pose was casual, but she was very aware of the gun on his hip.

"Don't even think about it," Macy said.

"I wasn't," Sarah said.

"Move." Macy put her hand on Sarah's arm and guided her toward the bathroom.

_Macy's hand wrapped around her upper arm and pulled her up. Their faces were inches apart, and she could smell their sweat. Her nostrils flared as she leaned in and kissed Macy's lips, rocking her lower body against Macy's thigh._

The washroom was tiny, with a tub sitting in the middle of the space. It was already filled with tepid water, a bar of soap and a small sponge sitting on a crate next to one end. Macy followed Sarah into the room and closed the door behind her. "Go on, let's get it over with."

Sarah pulled her borrowed shirt over her head, dropping her right arm to cover her breasts. For some reason she felt shyer with Macy than she ever had with Amelia, reluctant to let her erstwhile lover see her naked. She lowered her pants quickly and stepped over the edge of the tub, lowering herself until the water provided her a weak amount of privacy. 

"Is Amelia sick?"

"She was busy. Hurry up. You gotta be in front of Judge Choate in an hour."

_"We should wash up. You got a tub?"_

_"Are you saying I stink?"_

_Sarah kissed the curve of Macy's breast. "Yeah, but I like it."_

_The wrestling turned to laughter, which quickly became moans._

Sarah cupped her hand in the water and splashed it into her face. She ran her fingers through her hair and said, "You look good. I wanted--"

"If I wanted to talk to you, I would have. It's not like I didn't know where to find you this month. Just wash."

Sarah looked down at the water and finally picked up the soap. It was shocking to see what had happened with Macy since their first meeting. This woman was so much harder, nearly emotionless. Except for her eyes, of course. Macy refused to meet Sarah's gaze, but she could tell there was pain in them. Pain she had caused. She rested her elbow on the edge of the tub, holding her hair out of her face, and closed her eyes.

_"Nice and calm. No one's gonna get hurt tonight." Jack Wilson did all the talking. Sarah stayed by the bank's door, making sure no one wandered into their hold-up. Clark was moving the bundles of cash from the payroll bag in the middle of the floor to the saddlebags they'd brought in with them. "This is just a simple transaction. No reason for anyone to get hurt."_

Sarah had stood there and looked at everyone she was robbing without really seeing them. They weren't victims. She wasn't stealing out of their pockets. She was just taking money that people she cared about needed. The rest of the gang was her responsibility, and that was her way of providing for them. It was how her father provided. It was the Lucas way.

"I didn't mean to hurt anyone. I know that's a horrible excuse, but--"

"Are you done washing up?"

Sarah picked up the soap and ran it between her hands. It was just barely a sliver, nearly disappearing as she worked up a thin lather. 

"Sheriff Macy, may I speak?"

"No. I thought I made that clear."

Sarah washed quickly, keeping her head down so she wouldn't have to see Macy even in the corner of her eye. There was a knock on the door and Macy stepped back, opened the door slightly, and whispered briefly with someone on the other side. She took a bundle from whoever it was and closed the door again. Macy ripped open the bundle and tossed some folded clothes onto the floor next to the tub.

"Clothes for court."

"Thank you."

Macy pressed her lips together and worked her jaw, obviously trying to think of a way to snap at her again. Finally she folded her arms over her chest and sagged against the wall. "Don't thank me. Wasn't my idea."

Sarah used the sponge to wash her arms, and then sank down to dip her head under the water to wash her hair. She kept her hands on the edges of the tub and hesitated before she rose out of the water again. It was silent under the surface, calm. She lifted her feet so that she was only touching the tub with her hands and rear. She felt adrift. Free for the first time since... ever, to be honest. First with her father, then with the gang, the only time she'd ever felt comfortable and felt like herself was--

Two hands broke the surface around her head, strong fingers closing around her shoulders and hauling her up. She was pulled from the water with a choking gasp, the water pouring down over her face. Macy was holding her up, their faces inches apart, but Sarah could only make out vague shapes through the water flowing over her eyes.

"What in God's name are you trying to pull?"

Sarah grabbed the collar of Macy's shirt and pulled her forward into a kiss. Macy tried to push her away, but Sarah wrapped her arms around Macy's neck and held tight. The water splashed over the edge of the tub, soaking Macy's blouse and jeans and the floor all around them both. Macy twisted and fought, finally managing to break Sarah's hold on her. She swung her right hand out, meeting Sarah's cheek with a brutal smack, and Sarah fell back against the curved edge of the tub.

"If you _ever_..."

"I love you, Anna."

Macy stared at her. "Don't say those words."

Sarah pushed herself up and stood naked in the tub, water glistening on her body. Macy winced as if the sight pained her and turned her back. 

"I was my father's daughter. Then I was my family's leader. The only thing you wanted me to be was Sarah. I never had anyone want that before. I didn't know what it meant, and it scared me. But I know now. I wish I could regret lying to you, but I don't. Because if I'd told you who I was when we met, I'd be in this same place I am right now. But I'd never have known you. I'd never have fallen in love with you. So I don't regret it. I'm just so sorry I had to hurt you."

Macy said, "Your clothes are wet. They're all you're gonna get, so it looks like you'll have to suffer." She opened the door and stepped into the hall. "Get dressed quick. I'll have someone drag you to court naked if I have to."

Sarah closed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, bowing her head as she listened to Macy's boots depart down the hall.

#

Kirby eyed her soaked clothes as she stormed toward him. "Sheriff...?"

"Out of my way," she said. "I need some air."

She shoved his shoulder when he didn't move fast enough, throwing open the front door and stepping out into the sunshine. The air felt cold through her clothes, but she ignored it as she leaned against the hitching post and sucked in huge breaths of air. She felt like she was suffocating, like all the room had been sucked out of the jail. Her face burned. Her lips felt numb where Sarah had... She worked up some saliva and forced herself to spit, wiped the back of her hand across her mouth, and finally straightened up and looked back into the jail. 

Kirby was staring at her, but he turned away when he caught her expression. She steadied herself, got her breathing under control, and pushed away from the rail. Kissing Sarah... or rather, having Sarah kiss her, felt far too good. It opened the door to far too many feelings that she'd spent too much time squashing. She pushed her fingers through her hair and twisted it into a braid. She didn't have time for this. Sarah Lucas was last month's problem, and she was about to be shipped off to another state. She had other things to worry about.

She hadn't seen Henry all morning, and she was afraid he was going to back out of his promise. Without him, she would have to stand up next to Sarah in court and explain what had happened. And once she was under oath, the entire truth would have to come out. "I was blinded by romantic feelings for the suspect, your honor. That's correct, we were intimate on several occasions. Yes, sir, here's my badge and gun."

"Damn it, Henry," she muttered.

"Sorry, Sheriff. Elisabeth did the best she could."

She turned at the sound of his voice. Henry was standing behind her, most of his beard gone. He'd maintained a goatee, dark around the mouth with a spot of white on the chin. She was surprised at how distinguished he looked, relieved to see him, and proud that he had shown up. She looked down at his hand. He wore a leather glove, the last three fingers cut away and the edges sewn together. "Welcome back, Deputy Rucker."

He looked down at himself, adjusting his vest with his good hand. "Yeah, well. I shouldn't have stayed away so long."

She patted him on the shoulder and guided him into the building. Kirby was coming down the hall and hooked his thumb toward the supply room door. "Boss, I thought you took the prisoner back to her cell after she washed up."

"No, I left her... in the washroom to get dressed." She pictured the window over the sink, the flimsy latch that held it closed. "Oh, son of a bitch." She pushed Kirby out of the way and ran down the hall. She was mentally crucifying herself for the mistake, ready to put her fist through an oak door in frustration as she threw open the washroom door and stopped just over the threshold.

Sarah was sitting on the edge of the tub, wearing her wet dress, her hair in a sloppy ponytail. She stood up and hesitated when she saw the crowd stumbling to a stop in the doorway behind Macy. She furrowed her brow and said, "Something wrong?"

"No. Nothing." Macy stepped back and pushed Henry forward. "There's your prisoner, Deputy. Get her to the community center for her trial."

"Where will you be?" Kirby said.

Macy rolled her shoulders. "I'll be policing the community."

#

"Darlin', stop... stop..."

"Did I hurt you?" Macy pushed her hair out of her face, resting her palms on Eleanor's thighs. She leaned forward and kissed Eleanor's stomach, surprised to find how out of breath she was. How long had they been wrestling on this bed? Her heart was pounding and she was drenched with sweat. 

Eleanor reached down and stroked Macy's hair. "No, honey. Just a little sensitive after the last two rounds. Give me a second to catch my breath." She pulled Macy up and kissed her lips, rolling them until Macy was pinned to the mattress. "Better yet, let me take the opportunity to take yours away." She kissed the corners of Macy's mouth and started to slide down her body.

Macy reached up and gripped the bottom of the headboard, lifting her hips in anticipation. Seeing Sarah's naked body, feeling her kiss, had lit a fuse inside of her. She only knew two ways to extinguish that smoldering desire, and this felt like the least shameful method. Eleanor's fingers brushed her flanks and made her shiver. Eleanor was about to reach her destination when there was a knock on the door.

"Sheriff Macy?" It was Kirby.

"Shit," Macy pulled away as if she'd been shot, twisting to get out from underneath Eleanor. She grabbed her shirt and pulled it over her head. "Don't say a word."

Eleanor mimed locking her lips, and Macy wrapped the sheet around her waist. She walked to the door, trailing the sheet like a tail. She opened the door a crack and glared out at her temporary deputy. "What is it?"

"Little early to call it a night, ain't it?"

Macy said, "I was up late. What?"

"Deputy Rucker wanted me to let you know Judge Choate made his ruling. Sarah Lucas was sentenced to twenty years in the Kansas State Pen."

"When does her train leave?"

"Bright and early Friday morning. Rucker thought you'd like to know."

Macy nodded. "He was right. Thanks. I'll see you back at the jailhouse." She shut the door before he could say anything else and turned to face the bed. Eleanor was lying across the mattress, her leg lifted to obscure the view of her pubic hair. "Well?"

Macy dropped her sheet and pulled the shirt over her head. "Well..." She walked to the bed and climbed on top of Eleanor. "Now we got reason to celebrate."


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty-two,**

Sarah wept.

She was sentenced on Tuesday and forced to spend the next three nights in her cell awaiting the train that would take her to Kansas. Twenty years in prison. Everything she owned was long gone, never to be seen again. Everyone she knew had vanished. She lay curled on her side on the cot in the narrow supply closet, hands balled into fists on the sides of her head. She had fought her attraction to Macy simply because she didn't want to sacrifice her life. Now she had nothing. No family, no friends, no life. No love.

Sarah cursed herself for not taking the leap. She should have realized that her only options were destruction. If she'd grabbed hold of Macy and told her the truth as soon as she started to fall, maybe she could have... made things better. Maybe Macy wouldn't hate her. Maybe she could at least have a friend.

She ignored the food they brought to her. It sat on plates just inside the doorway, untouched and quickly going cold. Food didn't interest her. She ignored the passing of light on the wall that had once indicated the passage of time to her. The only time that mattered now was seven o'clock, Friday morning. And then one day later, she would be delivered to her new wardens at the Kansas State Penitentiary. 

Outside she could hear the town continuing its business. People shouting to friends, laughter, the banging of the café door as people came and went during the day. She tried to think of who those people were, what they were doing. She'd never really lived in a town before. Just the old shacks her father called their home. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine if she would have ended up differently if she'd walked streets like Romans. If she had grown up down the street from her best friend, and if her only worry was getting to school on time rather than if Daddy would get killed or sent to prison.

It was no good pretending. Her life was what it had been, and no amount of imagination would change that. She was a crook, and this was how her life ended.

She opened her eyes and lifted her hand. She held it high enough that the moonlight shone on her fingers, and she examined the way the light made them look. She remembered the way Macy kissed them, the way it felt for two of her fingers to slide between Macy's legs and stroke that sensitive spot. Sarah decided she could take solace in that. No matter what had happened in her life before, or what might happen from here on, at least she'd known what it was like to be happy. To be in love.

That was more than most people got.

#

Macy finally went home on Thursday night. She had to pack a change of clothes for her trip up to Kansas and the ride back. She let Harlequin lead the way home, her mind occupied with thoughts of spending an entire day in Sarah Lucas' presence. She was sure she could do it, but the effort would take a lot out of her. She had escorted prisoners to the state pen before; she knew that it could be a very trying ordeal. Trying to do it with someone like Sarah would be torture. But she'd survived worse.

It would be easier if her dalliances with Eleanor felt half as good as what she'd done with Sarah. Sex with Eleanor was fine, of course, and she enjoyed it immensely, but it couldn't compare to her nights with Sarah. She didn't like to think about that, or what it meant. Her job would be hard enough as it was without thinking Sarah might be the love of her...

Macy guided Harlequin into the stable and set him up for the night. She spent a few extra minutes brushing him down, sitting with him while he drank his water. Finally she had to stop delaying the inevitable and go into the house. It was dusk, so the furniture was hidden by long, heavy shadows. She turned on a lamp and set it on the counter between the kitchen and the living room. She looked toward the couch and forced her mind back into the past, back before she'd ever met Sarah Lucas. She searched for memories that could overwrite what she and Sarah had created, but she failed.

Her life had been so empty before Sarah, but she'd been content. Now that her eyes had been opened, she had no idea how she would be able to go back to the way things were before. Coming home alone, eating alone, working and sleeping and eating. She needed a touch. A hand on her hip in the night, a warm body next to her in bed. She'd lived for so long without knowing it, but a handful of nights had ruined her forever.

She went to the bedroom door and looked inside. She hadn't spent every night since Sarah's arrest in Eleanor's bed, but she'd found ways to avoid this room. She'd slept at the jail, stretching out on the cot in a cell as far from Sarah's as possible. Sometimes she came home, but she slept on the couch. The room had once been comforting, but now it was like a bear trap.

It was almost like the echoes of Sarah's voice were caught in the wood of the walls. " _Please, Anna... there, right there._ " Macy licked her lips and stepped into the room, moving quickly to the trunk at the foot of the bed. She flipped up the lid before she could think of Sarah sitting on top of it, spreading her legs, guiding Macy's head down... 

Her clothes were stacked on the far right side of the trunk, and she took a few shirts and pants without taking the time to examine them. She shoved them into an old army bag and pulled the string to cinch the top shut. She stood up and eyed the headboard, the pillows and blankets that were still tangled from the last time she'd been in the bed. She realized with a start that the last time she'd been here was with Sarah, making love while the rest of her gang broke Joshua and Clark out of prison. 

She dropped her bag and grabbed handfuls of the sheets and blankets, yanking them from the mattress with a shout of fury. She dragged the linens through the living room, holding her arms out to one side so they wouldn't brush her clothes. She opened the door and hurled them into the lawn, panting as she spun on her heel and went back into the bedroom. She hoisted the mattress off the bed frame and managed to manhandle it through the door. She shoved it to the front porch and let it fall with a heavy thud to the ground.

"The whole point of roughing it is to use a sleeping bag, I think."

Macy pushed her hair out of her face and caught her breath before she turned around. Henry Rucker had just arrived, riding onto her lawn and looking at the remnants of her bed lying at her feet. He was smiling in a bemused manner, and touched the brim of his hat in greeting as his horse slowed a few feet away from her. The evening had already grown dark enough that his features were a blur to her, so she was confident he couldn't see how close she was to tears. 

"Hey, Henry. You and Elisabeth need a slightly soiled mattress?"

"You don't want it anymore?"

"I don't want what it comes with."

Henry said, "Ah. I think we're good."

"Then I'll burn it."

Henry arched an eyebrow. "Seems wasteful."

Macy dropped onto the top step of her porch and looked at Henry. "How was the ride?"

He lifted his left hand and flexed the remaining fingers. "I managed. I had to loop the reins around my wrist, but it was doable." He climbed off the horse and led it to her porch, letting the reins rest loosely in his right hand. Macy held up a hand for him to wait and went inside, coming back a moment later with two bottles of beer. She handed one to Henry and he took it. "Thank ya."

They sat next to each other on the top step, and sipped their beers in companionable silence. Henry held his bottle in his right hand, leaving his formerly dominant hand to prop him up. Out of sight in the darkness of the porch. Finally, he spoke again.

"I wanted to put your mind at ease, and offer up my services one more time."

"Services?" Macy said. "For what?"

"Whatever you decide. If you want me to come with you to Kansas, I'll have your back. If you want me to hold down the fort here in case the rest of Lucas' gang takes advantage of you being gone, I'm ready for that, too. I just wanted to put your mind at ease. I know I haven't been your favorite person this month."

Macy actually laughed at that. "Henry, trust me. If I had to choose my five least favorite people this month, you wouldn't make the cut. Although I might be pretty high on the list my own self." She pushed her hair out of her face and looked out over the field beside her house. She wanted to look at the landscape, but instead found herself looking at the spot where she'd first seen Sarah. Just a shadow against the darkness. No wonder little kids were scared of the dark; look what could be lurking there.

Henry walked over and sat beside her on the step. "We've had a bad month, Anna."

"Yeah."

"But I think we can count the Lucas gang out. Not to jinx us or anything, but they've been quiet for this whole month. We got a whole slew of people to protect the last payroll delivery and there wasn't even a hiccup. If they were gonna hit us, it would have been then. To be honest, between my hand and whatever you've got eating you up, we've been sitting ducks this month. They could have come in and finished the job they started.

"That gang folded last time they lost a leader. Daniel Lucas got shot and we didn't hear a thing from 'em for four years. Now Sarah Lucas is goin' away. Unless there's another kid we don't know about, I think whatever's left of 'em is just gonna fold up and float away into the wind. Maybe head out to Arizona. I hear things are boomin' out there."

Macy smiled. "Be nice to give us a break." She reached over and patted Henry's shoulder. "Thanks for the pep talk, Henry. I really needed that."

Henry said, "You wanna talk about what you got going on? I've been practicing my picker-uppers and I could use the practice."

Macy said, "It's not that I don't trust you, Hank. But I'm humiliated by it. Humiliated by how stupid I was, and what I allowed to happen. If you knew what I'd done, I could never look you in the eye again. I'd have to fire you, and Elisabeth would kill me dead."

Henry laughed. "Good chance of that, actually. Best to just keep it to yourself until you're ready to share. But if I can give you some generic advice. I've worked with you for a long time. I trust you. The people in this town didn't particularly want a woman sheriff, but you showed that you were better than any man who wanted the job. People know that if you fail, it ain't because you couldn't do it. It's because it can't be done. So whatever you did that you think caused this, don't let it eat you up."

"Thanks, Henry." She rubbed her hands together and said, "I want you to take over here while I'm gone."

He nodded and looked down at his hand.

"Got nothing to do with that, Henry. I want you here because I don't trust Kirby with the town. You ask me who I want watching the town when I can't, and you're first on that list. One hand or two, you've always been there for me. I need someone I can count on holding down the fort when I'm gone."

"You can count on me, Anna."

"And when I get back we'll talk about letting you take back your post from Kirby full-time. It's way overdue."

Henry pushed himself up. "Thanks, boss."

"I should be thanking you."

He looked at the dissembled bed on her lawn. "You gonna do something with this?"

"Something," she said. "Just not sure what."

Henry took off his hat and scratched the back of his head. "I've always said we need a break room at the jail. Put a bed in there, one of us could catch a few winks from time to time without going all the way home."

"Bed's out here because I don't wanna sleep on it anymore."

"So it'll never be occupied when I wanna use it."

Macy laughed. "You're diabolical, Mr. Rucker."

He put his hat back on and mounted his horse. She watched how he managed using just one hand, impressed by how he'd adjusted to his disability. He settled on the horse and looked at the bed again.

"You know, even if you don't sleep on that bed, you should find someplace soft to spend the night. Train's gonna leave bright and early tomorrow. Big day."

"Yeah. I'll find a place. Good night, Henry. Tell Elisabeth hello for me."

He nodded and turned his horse around, moving slowly down the trail again. Macy waited until he was out of sight before she stood up and walked to the pile of bedding. Every thread, every divot in the mattress, reminded her of Sarah. The way she would push herself up, the way her feet got tangled in the sheets, the way she folded the pillow around her hand when she finally drifted off to sleep.

Macy turned and walked back into the house, sure that she would never sleep on it again. Not with it screaming at her that way. She would take her things and ride back to town, rent a bed from Eleanor, and wait for the train. Henry was right about tomorrow being a big day; it was the day she finally put Sarah Lucas out of her life forever.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty-three,**

Sarah didn't sleep at all Thursday night. On Friday morning, she stood on her cot to look out the small window of her cell. She couldn't see the train, but she heard its arrival; it was the chuffing and bellowing arrival of a beast that shook the ground as it rolled into town. She closed her eyes and pictured how the track ran through the plains before curving to meet up with Roman between its sheltering hills. The image had always struck her as sexual, the train rolling forward between two raised mounds that looked like knees, but there was no humor in the image today.

She heard the keys jingle and climbed off the cot before the door opened. She laced her fingers on the back of her head and waited patiently as the door opened. Two people entered, and then a pair of hands landed on her shoulders and squeezed. She closed her eyes, amazed that she could identify someone by the feel of their fingers. But considering how intimately she had gotten to know Anna Macy's fingers, it wasn't all that surprising.

"Good morning, Ms. Lucas," Deputy Kirby said. "You all packed up and ready to go? We just gotta make sure you're not taking any souvenirs."

With that, Macy started to touch her. For the first time in over a month, Macy's hands brushed Sarah's sides through her shirt and she had to suppress a groan. Her fingers tightened along Sarah's ribs before moving slightly forward, touching the swell of her breasts before retreating quickly. Macy brushed the curve of Sarah's rear end through her jeans and Sarah shivered, hoping Kirby couldn't see it in the darkness.

"Knock it off," Macy said under her breath.

She wanted to apologize, wanted to blame it on how Macy made her feel, but the fight had gone out of her. Twenty-nine days alone in a dark room with no human contact could do that to a person.

Her pat-down finally ended, and her wrists were closed in the cuffs. Macy closed a hand around her shoulder and pulled her toward the door. Sarah let herself be turned around, and Macy stepped to keep behind her at all times. Sarah followed Kirby to the door. The day had barely begun outside, and the whole world looked dark blue beyond the threshold. Henry Rucker, the deputy who was missing his hand, was standing next to the doorway. Sarah was surprised at how healthy he looked, but she kept her face expressionless.

"Got everything settled, Henry?"

He dipped his chin. "All we need now is for you to head on out."

"Try not to get too excited."

Sarah realized she hadn't seen Macy at all, and turned her head to rectify the situation. It was a mistake. Macy wore a freshly laundered shirt, buttoned to the collar, and a beaten leather jacket. Her hair was braided, and she wore a hat with the brim pulled low. She looked gorgeous, and the sight of her nearly prompted Sarah to apologize again. She bit the inside of her cheek and turned forward just as Macy realized she was being examined.

"Eyes forward," Macy said in a cold, impersonal tone.

"See you tomorrow," Henry said as they stepped out into the cool dawn. They walked through the empty streets, only a few buildings showing light in their windows as they passed. She smelled baking bread as they passed a bakery, and she turned her head in the hopes of seeing the first loaves of the day being brought out. She'd never had freshly baked bread, and she suddenly realized she never would. 

It was her last walk as a free woman, she realized. She turned her head to the sky and saw that a scattering of stars were still visible. She looked to the west and saw something that caught her breath. "Old Man's Shoe," she whispered, using Macy's name for the constellation.

"Hush," Macy said. Her voice was tight, and she punctuated it with a none-too-gentle shove on the shoulder. 

They turned a corner, and Sarah suddenly saw it. The train station was a small building with wooden walls painted gray-white, the name Roman spelled out on the side in big black letters. The tracks ran alongside the building, and the train was waiting patiently alongside. Sarah's muscles tensed, but she forced herself to continue walking forward. Kirby walked ahead when they reached the station, going inside and taking a quick look around before he came back outside and motioned Macy in.

"Hope you're not planning on your friends bailing you out of this, Ms. Lucas," Macy said.

Sarah, mindful of Macy's earlier order to hush, didn't reply.

Kirby dealt with the station agent, and Macy walked Sarah to a row of benches on the far side of the room. She could see the train, like some unbelievable object from a picture show. It was massive and metal and seemed to breathe smoke from its seams. Macy put a hand on Sarah's shoulder and forced her down onto the wooden seat. 

Sarah looked at the gun on Macy's belt, resting in the finely-tooled holster. The metal of the weapon looked cold, and she could almost feel it as she wrapped her fingers around the weapon and pulled it free of its sheath. She threw her weight forward and knocked Macy off her feet as she stood up and spun around, pulling down the hammer with her thumb and swinging the gun toward the ceiling. She meant to fire off a single round into the plaster, but she didn't even get a chance to waste the bullet before Kirby had turned and pulled his weapon and fired a single shot that took the back of her head clean--

Macy stepped away and broke Sarah's reverie. She walked to the window and peered out at the train, resting her hands on the edge of the window and bending her right knee in a manner that pushed her hip out toward Sarah. The sight of Macy's slender legs, those jeans that hugged just the right spots and bagged enticingly in others, sent her off on another memory. But she closed her eyes before the fantasies got too strong.

Kirby came over and handed Macy a ticket. "Agent said we can go ahead and board to secure our prisoner 'fore the other passengers get on board."

"All right," Macy said. She walked back to Sarah and grabbed her by the elbow.

_"What are you doing down there?"_

_"Went to the bathroom and I didn't want to wake you." She lifted her head from where she sat on the floor. Macy was sprawled on the bed, and bent to kiss her upside down. The kiss grew hungrier, and Macy reached down and wrapped her fingers around Sarah's elbow. "Up here," she said as she hauled Sarah up onto the mattress._

Macy walked her out of the train station. Sarah slowed her pace once she was outside again, turning to look over the town one last time. Soon Roman would just be a memory, and her entire world would consist of a tiny stone cell with bars on the door. The thought terrified her, and she was eager for just one more piece of freedom before it was taken away forever. She spotted someone on horseback at the edge of town, positioned on the sloping ground at the base of the closest hill.

At first she thought it was just a random townsperson taking a moment before going on with the errands of his day. But something about his posture was familiar enough to make her look harder. His shirt looked almost black in the weak morning light, but then he turned his head to look behind him and recognition washed over her. 

It was Travis Richards, a member of her gang.

The distance was too great for even her best shooter to have a chance of killing her, but he was definitely watching the train station. He took a scope from his belt and brought it up, eyeing the platform. After a moment, he lowered the glass and tightened his grip on the reins. He spurred his horse forward and rode away from town.

"Move it," Macy said. She shoved Sarah forward and into the train.

"Anna, you gotta--"

"You will refer to me by proper rank, Ms. Lucas, or you will not speak to me."

Sarah's heart was pounding. "Fine, Sheriff Macy--"

"Actually, that's not a bad idea. Kirby, you got a bandana that's cleanish?" He pulled a blue cloth from his belt and handed it over. Macy took it with both hands, twisting the material until it was corded and thick like a rope. She stepped forward and held it up in front of Sarah's mouth.

"Sheriff, listen to mef." Her plea was cut off as Macy pressed the bandana into her mouth. Sarah had no choice but to close her teeth around the gag. Macy put her arms around Sarah's shoulders to tie the ends behind Sarah's head. For the briefest moment, Sarah's face as inches from Macy's. Being wrapped in her pseudo embrace was enough to make Sarah's heart hurt, and she closed her eyes as she was gagged.

"Now maybe it'll be a pleasant trip," Macy said, stepping back to admire her handiwork. "Come on, Deputy. Let's find our seats." 

Sarah was momentarily stunned by how gorgeous the train was. It was like a piece of a palace had been cut out and placed on wheels. Rows of seats lined either side of the train, with a wide aisle between them. Sarah was pushed forward by Kirby, forced to follow Macy through the first car to the next. 

Sarah kept her eyes on the windows they passed. No sign of Travis or anyone else from her gang. The only reason to have a spotter at the train would be to alert the others when she was leaving. To make sure she was on the train before they made their move. She suddenly felt very cold, trying to figure out how to warn Macy without making it sound like a threat.

They found their berth and Macy went in first. She checked out the accommodations and declared they were acceptable before she motioned Sarah to come inside. There were two bunks on the right, and a long shallow bench on the left for sitting. A window was directly across from the door, but it was facing the wrong direction for her to watch for more members of her gang. Instead she got one final view of Roman before she was guided to the bench and forced to sit. 

"Find the steward," Macy said. "Make sure he's aware of the situation before we head out."

Kirby nodded and left the compartment. Macy shut the door behind him and then walked to the window, looking out at the town rather than face Sarah.

"We got a lot of stops to make along the way. I expect you to sit and stay quiet the entire time. Don't want you making a ruckus. We're going to get to Kansas tomorrow morning and I'll deliver you to the prison all quiet-like." Macy stared some more. When she spoke again, her voice had actually gotten a bit softer and more like the Anna Macy Sarah remembered. "If you want to look out the window, you're allowed. Probably be the last you see of Oklahoma for a long while."

Sarah mumbled against her gag, and Macy turned to face her. She was still for a long time, but finally she crossed the space and tugged the bandana out of Sarah's mouth.

"Thank you."

"Didn't want ya chokin' on your own tongue," Macy mumbled. She stood to walk back to the window before there was a sudden burst of gunfire from outside the train. 

Sarah started to stand, but Macy shoved her back down onto the bench. She tugged her gun from the holster and pressed the barrel against Sarah's temple. Sarah closed her eyes, a part of her mind registering that the metal was even colder than she'd imagined. Macy's voice had reacquired its steel and strength as she craned her neck to try and see out the window. 

"Call 'em off."

"I can't," Sarah said.

Macy grabbed the collar of Sarah's shirt and shoved her roughly against the wall. "Swear to God, I'll kill you before I let them break you outta here."

Sarah laughed without humor. "That ain't what they want, Anna. They ain't coming to rescue me. They're here to kill me."


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter Twenty-four,**

Macy unfastened Sarah's cuffs just long enough to wrap the chain around a steel support bar running along the edge of the car. She moved to the door, gun in hand, and dropped into a crouch in case anyone was waiting for her to stick her head out. She peered toward the locomotive, then spun on the ball of her foot to face the way they had come in. There was another gunshot, and Macy moved out into the hall.

A man in a black suit stepped out of one berth, and his hands shot into the air when he saw Macy's gun. She tapped the badge on her chest with her free hand and the man shuffled forward. "You the steward?"

"Yes'm." His voice was trembling. "Benjamin."

"Did you see what happened, Ben?"

He pushed his dark hair out of his face and said, "Someone came ridin' up on the train. The sheriff pulled out his gun and told the man to stop, but the man fired at him."

Macy didn't bother to correct Benjamin about who Kirby was. "All right. Get up to the front of the train and tell the engineer we'll be leaving a little early."

"But the other passengers..."

"No one else from Roman is getting on this train. Just get rolling."

Benjamin reluctantly moved past her toward the locomotive. Macy said, "And stay out of berth number one-oh-three. Prisoner transport."

She moved forward and hoped Benjamin would do what he said. She moved back down the train until she reached the end of the car. The door was open, and a spray of blood on the metal grating. She stepped outside as the whistle blew, and she saw Kirby on the train station platform. He was clutching his side, his hand soaked red with blood, but he was still firing at someone Macy couldn't see. 

"Kirby!" she shouted. She pressed her back against the train car and craned her neck to see who he was shooting at.

He didn't bother to look back. "Got two of 'em, Sheriff. They was trying to board with guns. I told 'em that wasn't allowed, one of the bastards shot me. I forced 'em back, though."

A bullet pinged off the side of the train, and Macy and Kirby both ducked. 

"Get back in here," she said.

"Need a doctor, sheriff. 'Sides, someone has to hold these bastards off while you get away. Otherwise they'll just jump aboard. Go, I can take care of 'em."

Macy hesitated, but Kirby was right. She saw two men on the side of the platform as the train started to move. Kirby fired at them, and the men dropped down out of sight. Macy reluctantly turned and went back into the train. She shut the door and the train started to pick up speed. She could still hear the gunfight on the platform, and she moved to the window to make sure Kirby came out on top.

As the train took the curve to head out of town, she caught a glimpse of the main street of Roman. Henry and two other men were riding full-speed toward the train station. She breathed a sigh of relief; Kirby was about to get reinforcements.

She pushed away from the window and moved back to where she left Sarah. Benjamin was coming back toward her, white as a ghost. His hands shook as he rested them on the back of a seat. "Th-the engineer was upset, but I figured... What happened?"

"Someone was trying to take my prisoner."

Benjamin looked past her. "Well... where's the sheriff?"

"She's right in front of you," Macy said.

#

Sarah looked up as the door slammed open. Macy stormed inside and glared down at her, a pale-faced steward hovering in the doorway. Macy grabbed Sarah and forced her to stand up. "Tell me what the hell they're doing."

"I told you, they're--"

"I know. What I want to know is why your own gang is trying to kill you."

Sarah closed her eyes. "'Cause I got caught. Because I'm a failure." She looked at the man in the doorway, and Macy caught the glance.

"Get outta here, Benjamin." She released Sarah with one hand and pushed the door shut. Sarah took the opportunity to rearrange her arms so they weren't quite so uncomfortably twisted. She rolled her shoulders, and Macy motioned for her to sit on the bench.

"I let you take back a chunk of our loot after the payroll robbery. I went to kill you, but I couldn't manage that. Came up with a new plan, become your friend and use that to our advantage. Another disappointment. Deacon finally decided he'd had enough of it. That's why they didn't try to break me out. They were happy with me rottin' away in your jail."

"Why are they coming after you now?"

"I'm out in the open, not locked in some little room. Long as I'm on the train, they know where I am. It's their last chance for twenty-some years to get their shot at me." She licked her lips and looked out the window. "I guess Deacon figures, long as I'm alive, there'll be people in the gang who are loyal to the Lucas name. He's makin' 'em take me out so he can take over as leader without worrying about me coming back."

Macy said, "You were going to prison for twenty years. He could have just left well enough alone."

Sarah shook her head. "You don't know Deacon."

Macy straightened and paced in the small space of their berth. "So that at the train station... we stopped those two. Are we done? Did we get past 'em?"

"No," Sarah said. She laughed sadly and shook her head. "No, not by a long shot. That was just the first blow. My dad used to do something called a Gauntlet. He used it to get away from people chasin' him, but I think Deacon's adjusted it for this. A couple of people at the train station, a couple of people at the next stop, and so on and so on. Eventually one of them will get lucky, or we'll get sloppy, or both... one way or another, they're getting on this train and they're gonna deal with me."

"And me," Macy said. "I don't think they'll just kill you and wave goodbye to me when they hop off the train."

"Doesn't have to be that way. Put me off on the next stop. Walk me out onto the platform and then get back on the train."

Macy scoffed. "You must think I'm a goddamn moron."

"You think I'll make a run for it? They'll kill me the second they have a clean shot. You can trust me on that." Her eyes welled up with tears at the thought of the people she'd lived and bled with were coming after her. She looked away from Macy, her jaw trembling as she tried to hold back the tears.

"So there's no loyalty amongst thieves?" Macy said.

"Oh, there is," Sarah said. She looked at Macy again. "And this is what happens when you break it. I went against the people I'd known my entire life. I sided with you. I fell in love with you, and I turned my back on everyone and everything I cared about."

Macy pressed her lips together, eyes wide with anger. "Don't say those words."

"But I do. Either I'm gonna die, or I'm never going to see you again once we hit Kansas. So I have to say it now. I love--"

Macy slugged her. Sarah sagged against the wall of the car, dazed by the blow and the pain radiating from her jaw. 

"Don't fucking say those words." Macy pushed herself up and flung the door open. She stepped out into the hallway and out of Sarah's line of sight.

Sarah rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes. "I love you, Anna."

#

Two men lay facedown on the train station platform, their hands cuffed behind their backs. Doc Merritt had taken Kirby inside to tend to his wounds. Henry had sent out the two volunteer deputies to make sure no one else was lying in wait with guns, but he doubted it. He stood beside the platform and looked down at the guns the two new prisoners had been using. If there were any others running around, they would have come out of the woodwork as soon as their buddies were taken down.

He heard footsteps on the platform and looked up to see Doc Merritt coming out of the building. Blood was smeared on the front of his apron and he wiped his forehead with a handkerchief as he walked to where Henry was waiting. Since Henry was on the ground, he was staring straight at Merritt's knees.

"Hey, Doc. How's your patient doing?"

"Oh, he's fine. He just needed a little stitching up."

Henry put the guns down on the platform and looked at the prisoners. From this vantage, he could only see the soles of their shoes. "What the hell was he doing here? He should've been on the train with Sheriff Macy."

"He said that the shooters were trying to board. He had to lay down the cover fire so they wouldn't get on. Train got out of the station just fine. Sheriff Anna's more than capable of handling one prisoner by herself. Hell, she probably could have handled these two without Kirby's help. He just made it a little less stressful."

"Yeah," Henry said. He looked down the tracks. "The Lucas gang has lost a lot of people since Daniel Lucas got killed, but they still got more than two guys. If they really wanted Sarah Lucas back, it would've been a full assault. Why'd they only send these two?"

Doc shrugged. "Two guys they were willing to lose? Maybe it was just a show of force. Their way of letting us know they won't just let us take their leader to prison."

"Kind of a pointless show of force, isn't it?" Henry muttered. He stroked his beard with his right hand, then dropped it to his left hand. He rubbed the stumps of his fingers through his glove as he walked back to where Doc was still crouching. "I don't know, Doc. This is the same group that sent, what, three or four guys to break two of their men out of jail. Clark Wilson and that young Joshua fella. But they only sent these two jokers to get their leader back?"

"You're not buying it."

"There oughta be at least two more people involved here. And I'm pretty sure Carl and Leonard aren't gonna find anyone lurking in the woods, so I gotta ask myself... where's the rest of the gang? They just turn tail and run?"

"Might have decided they lost too much blood in this town. Decided to move on."

"They had a month to move on. Popping up now, and popping up this small, doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Unless this ain't the plan." He looked over his shoulder back at the town. "You hear anything 'fore we called you?"

"Nary a peep," Doc said.

Henry exhaled slowly and then said, "I don't think they just sent two guys after their boss. I think this was just a warning."

"Where are the others, then?"

Henry walked to the tracks and stepped onto one of the wooden spurs. He aimed the pinky of his left hand down the track, squinting so that the tip covered the point where the tracks curved out of sight. "I think they're down the tracks. Where's the next stop? You happen to know?"

"Kingfisher."

Henry nodded. "Yeah. Kingfisher. Figure they'll get there an hour from now. Figure someone will be waiting for 'em there."

"What are you gonna do?"

Henry pulled out his gun and checked the ammo. "You're gonna get on the telegraph and call ahead to Kingfisher and... Enid? And Medford. Get the train schedule and figure out the other stops. Warn 'em all. I think the Lucas gang sent their boys ahead so they can be waiting for Sheriff Macy. She'll think she got away from 'em here, and she might let her guard down."

"Not the Sheriff Anna I know," Doc said, "but I understand your concern. I'll get on it. Where will you be?"

Henry started walking toward his horse. "I'm gonna haul ass and see if a horse can beat a locomotive."

"If you win, they'll write songs about you, boy."

"Always wanted a song written about me," Henry said. He smiled over his shoulder at Doc as he whistled for his horse.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter Twenty-Five,**

Macy stood at the window, her back to the room where Sarah was chained, and watched the landscape roll past. She wanted a cigarette, but a quick pat of her pockets revealed she'd forgotten to bring any. She cursed under her breath and rubbed her face with both hands. Her skin felt hot, and her clothes brushed against it uncomfortably. She wanted to wash herself. Sarah's voice was caught in her head like a shout in an echo chamber, and she couldn't stop hearing those damn words she'd started to say.

She pushed away from the window and stormed back into the room. Sarah lifted her head quickly, bracing for another assault, but Macy stayed out of arm's reach. "I don't know what you're trying to get, what you think carrying on like this will achieve. But you're done, hear me? I don't care if I have to shoot up every train station between here and Leavenworth, you're done. So you can drop the act."

Sarah looked toward the window and shook her head sadly. "Fine."

Macy crossed her arms over her chest. "How many people should I be expecting?"

Sarah was quiet for a moment. Macy was about to ask again when she realized that Sarah was counting in her head. Finally, she said, "Depends. A couple people might have left after I got arrested, but Deacon had a lot of people loyal to him before that happened. I'd figure about ten, not counting the two you got back in Roman."

"Ten? You sure?"

"As sure as I can be," Sarah said. 

Macy stepped from the room and looked down to the end of the car. Benjamin the steward was still hovering, his hands trembling as he stared at her. He came forward when she motioned for him, eager for something to do. "Yes, ma'am?"

"How many stops are between here and Leavenworth?"

Benjamin looked toward the ceiling and squinted, his lips moving as he counted in his head. He finally said, "I'd need to see a schedule in front of me, but fourteen? Fifteen?"

"All right. We may not have to worry about people waiting for us at every single stop. Did you talk to the engineer about our problem?"

"Yes'm. He said that he wasn't going to break the schedule just 'cause there was some outlaws shooting at the train. He said trains are steel and bullets can't do nothing to 'em."

 _Unless they shoot through the windows and hit a passenger,_ Macy thought, but she didn't speak it out loud. "Tell him to keep his eyes peeled for anyone trying to block the tracks or intercept the train. If he sees anything, blow the whistle three times in quick succession to let me know. Also, come find me when we're getting close to Kingfisher. I want to scope things out before we're at the station."

Benjamin nodded so quickly Macy was afraid it might come unattached. He turned, but Macy grabbed his arm before he could run away. 

"Got any cigarettes on board?"

He pulled a pack from his coat pocket, offering a book of matches as well. "I'll get another pack from the dining car."

"Thank you kindly," she said. 

She waited until he'd run off before she tapped out a cigarette and used one of the matches to light it. She closed her eyes as she breathed in, then leaned against the wall as she exhaled a breath of faded gray smoke. She held the cigarette between two fingers, watching the paper turn back and flake away as the flame burned down. She glanced into the room and saw Sarah's legs, the knees together and her feet apart. Macy took another drag and then stepped into the room.

Sarah looked up as she entered, and Macy turned the cigarette around. "Here," she said. Sarah leaned forward and closed her lips around the cigarette. Macy held the cigarette while she took a drag, focusing on the way Sarah's lips pursed slightly and then relaxed as she leaned back. The smoke poured from her mouth in a wave, curling up past her nose and eyes. Macy took the cigarette back and placed it in her own mouth.

"Thanks," Sarah said.

"Common courtesy."

"It's still appreciated."

Macy sat on the bottom bed, hunching her shoulder so she wouldn't bump her head on the top bunk. She took off her hat and dropped it next to her on the mattress, looking at the window as she smoked. She could see Sarah in the corner of her eye, just a blurred shape in the form of a woman. She was proving something to herself by sitting there; she was trying to convince her brain that Sarah was just another prisoner. Just another transport. It didn't matter that they'd seen each other naked, that they'd held each other in the throes of passion...

She closed her eyes and rubbed the heel of her hand against her forehead.

"Can I speak?"

Macy looked up and forced herself to meet Sarah's eyes. It was almost a physical pain to make eye contact with her, to see that familiar gaze locked on hers. She'd been Sarah's lover for under a week, and her jailer for nearly five times that long. But even after all this time, all she could see was the woman who'd shared her bed. The memories should have faded. Sarah Lamb should have been a footnote in her feelings. But she couldn't stop her chest from tightening from just a look.

"Sure," she finally said. "It's a long ride."

"I heard the steward say there's fourteen or fifteen stops. There's no way Deacon will spread his men that thin. There's not gonna be anyone at most of the stops."

Macy took another drag of her cigarette.

"They're gonna try to hit the train while it's moving."

"That's suicide," Macy said.

Sarah shrugged. "All it'll take is one lucky bullet. You got people working on this train who don't know anything about what's going on. And once we pick up some passengers in the other towns, this train will be full of innocent people. How are you gonna protect all of them and watch me at the same time?"

"I'll find a way," Macy said. "If I have to shove you into a luggage compartment, I'll make sure you don't slip away."

Sarah suddenly stood up, and Macy copied her move. She dropped her hand to the butt of her gun, stopping just short of pulling it as she stared into Sarah's eyes.

"I ain't gonna run. Get that through your head, all right? This whole situation will go a lot easier for you if you just accept they ain't coming to rescue me. And even if they were..." Her shoulders sagged and the fight seemed to go out of her. She sagged, but remained standing with her arms twisted due to her handcuffs wrapped around the pipe. She said, "I don't want to escape."

"Because you heard real nice things about prison?"

Sarah met Macy's eyes again. "Because I wouldn't do that to you. I've accepted that I'm gonna spend a long, long time in jail. Maybe my whole life. But I won't run because you'd get blamed for it. And I've done enough to you in the time we've known each other. I won't do anymore bad things."

She sat down and stretched out on the bench, using her arm to block her face. Macy stared down at her for a long time, trying to decide if it was just a ruse. "I want to believe you. But everything I know about you was a lie. I can't trust a word you say now, Sarah. No matter how much I want to."

There was a knock on the door, and Macy turned as Benjamin stuck his head inside. "Ms. Sheriff. We're about five miles out from Kingfisher."

"Thank you," Macy said. She brushed past him and pulled the door shut. "Stand guard here. No one gets in or out. Got it?"

"I-I'll... I'll do my best."

Macy sighed and again wished she hadn't left Kirby behind. "Good. You got a gun onboard?"

"A gun?" Benjamin said, his voice breaking on the second word.

"One of these," Macy said. She pulled her gun from the holster and Benjamin recoiled from the sight.

"Jesus, lady."

"Sheriff. Remember?" Macy said. She holstered the gun. "You have anything like that onboard?"

"We got a shotgun."

"Good. Next time I'm with the prisoner, you go get it. You're gonna be guarding her when I can't."

Benjamin whimpered. "Ma'am, I don't know. I got duties--"

"There are other stewards on the train, right?" He reluctantly nodded. "They can cover for you. Now, do you have the route?"

"Oh, right," Benjamin said. He pulled a folded piece of paper from his suit jacket and handed it over. "Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna watch for signs that there'll be trouble. I'll be back as soon as I can."

She looked at the route as she moved to the front of the train. There were thirteen stops between Roman and Leavenworth, which meant fourteen more opportunities for shooters to be waiting for her at a train station. But if Sarah was right, then she couldn't count on the rest of the gang attacking when they were stopped. 

Of course, that would involve trusting something Sarah said. She had been close to breaking in the train car, right on the edge of making another stupid mistake. She had looked into Sarah's eyes and, gun to her head, she would have sworn Sarah was being honest with her. But she couldn't ignore the fact that, to this point, Sarah had _never_ been honest. She'd never seen Sarah telling the truth, so she had to treat every word from her mouth like it was a lie. 

She folded the train route to keep from wadding it up, sticking it into the back pocket of her jeans as she reached the last car before the locomotive. She pushed the door open and the wind hit her like a fist, wrapping around her and trying to shove her backward off her feet. She was glad she'd left her hat back in the car, because it would have been long gone.

She forced herself outside, and moved to the protective railing. The fields on either side of the train looked clear save for the occasional farmer or grazing livestock. Macy watched for men on horseback, signs of anyone waiting near the train station, anything that would indicate Deacon had a nasty surprise waiting for them when they arrived. She stayed outside even after she decided they would make it through Kingfisher without being assaulted. As strong as the wind was, it was dying down as the train slowed on approach to the station. It was worth the stinging eyes to delay her return to the room where Sarah Lucas was waiting to tell more lies.

#

Henry had named his horse Daedalus because he believed she could make him fly. All these years later, he hoped the name had inspired her to go a little faster.

He decided to not even try to catch the train at Kingfisher. The route map he'd taken from the station said the next stop would be Enid, thirty-nine miles away from Roman. The train would get there in about three hours, after their stop in Kingfisher. If he hauled ass, and really pushed his horse to her limits, he could make it in two and a half. The train had a head start on him, but he had the advantage of taking short cuts and not following the bends and turns in the track. He was confident.

"C'mon, girl," he said, mentally listing all the things he was going to provide for her if she came through for him and Macy. Only the finest oats, and the freshest apples from the market. He even promised to introduce her to Harlequin if that made her move any faster. 

He ignored everything he passed, the scenery and the world around him was just a blur. He focused on the spot directly ahead of him, only aware of the periphery in case of dangers or potential shortcuts. 

He clenched his left hand, feeling the single pressure point of his remaining finger. Macy hadn't given up on him. Anyone else would have turned their back on him. As much as he hated to admit it, even Isaac Macy would have sadly informed him they'd have to find a new deputy. But Anna had faith. And he would be damned if he let her down now.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter Twenty-Six,**

Kingfisher's sheriff, a man named Charles Freeman, met them at the train station with a telegram. The message was from Doc Merritt, a quick and concise message that told her Kirby had survived the shooting and warning the locals about the possibility of the Lucas gang being in the area. The end of the telegram was a postscript that told her Henry was riding pell-mell to catch up with the train so he could provide some back-up. She didn't know how she felt about that, but she was willing to take his offer of help at face value. Henry would never think she needed to be rescued, but he might feel obliged to rush into danger so she wouldn't have to face it alone.

She thanked Sheriff Freeman and declined his offer of borrowing a deputy. If the Lucas gang did show up, there would be enough confusion without her having someone she didn't know watching her back. A few passengers boarded at Kingfisher, most of the potential riders warned off by Doc's telegram and the sheriff's warning. Macy instructed the steward to make sure the passengers were seated as far away from the prisoner as possible before she boarded again.

The whistle blew, and the train slowly rolled out of Kingfisher. Benjamin had a pocket watch, and Macy checked to make sure they were on time. They were actually a little early, since she had forced a premature departure from Roman. Thinking wonders would never cease, she made her way back to her room to where Sarah was waiting. Sarah was curled up on the bench, her head resting on her arms. The position was comfortable, and accommodated the handcuffs. She looked up as Macy entered.

"Got lucky," she said. "My people telegrammed ahead and warned everyone on the route. Looks like your people won't be lying in wait for us after all."

"Then they'll hit while we're moving."

Macy sighed and shook her head.

"Look, I know you think a train is impenetrable. You think that all you have to do is sit tight and wait it out. But people hop trains all the time. All it takes is one person from the gang to get onboard, and then it'll be easy to take you out."

"Easy?" Macy said. "You couldn't manage it, and I had my eyes closed half the time I was with you."

Sarah ducked her chin and her shoulders sagged. Macy sat on the bunk and laced her fingers together, letting her hands hang between her knees.

"You cried."

Macy looked up. "What?"

"I don't know why it changed anything. Maybe it didn't; maybe it just gave me the excuse to stop being a carbon copy of my Daddy. When you killed Jack Wilson, I wanted to kill you in exchange. Blood for blood. I wanted to avenge Jack's death. I wanted someone to pay. I had to show you that it was a real person you killed. But you brought me into your home, and you... cried. You cried about the man you shot without even knowing his name. Only thing you knew was that he'd stolen from you, and he'd tried to kill you, and you still mourned him. I couldn't shoot you. Not after you'd shed tears for Jack the way you did." 

"Big surprise," Macy said. "I'm a damned human being."

"You're the law. I was taught that wearing a badge meant that you didn't have feelings. Just the rules, and how things were supposed to be. I didn't know there'd be all this gray area. I didn't think it was possible for a sheriff to have feelings for a criminal. And then... I guess I found out a criminal can have feelings for a sheriff, too."

Macy stood up. "For Christ's sake."

"Can't I just say it?" Sarah said.

"No," Macy said, "Goddamn it, no. No. Because you gave up that right. When I said it to you, when I said those words for the first fucking time, it was to a lie. Everything changed when I met you. I thought I finally knew where I belonged. I thought I finally understood what everything meant. I felt comfortable in my own skin, and you came along and ripped the rug out from under me. You used me. You used my feelings to attack my town. You crippled my deputy. An' now I'm supposed to believe that through it all, you really did lo-- you really felt the same for me as I did for you? I find that bullshit hard to believe."

Sarah stood up as well, the chain of her cuffs dragging along the pipe. Macy turned and found herself staring into Sarah's face again. The train swayed slightly around them and, despite the sound of the engine, it felt quiet as a crypt in their little room. Macy's eyelids were twitching from the effort of not looking away, her lips pressed together in a thin line until Sarah leaned in and brushed her mouth over Macy's bottom lip.

Macy felt like something was squeezing her chest from the inside, constricting her lungs and heart to keep them from moving properly. She parted her lips to try and catch a breath, but Sarah stepped closer and their kiss deepened. Macy put her hands on Sarah's face, lightly brushing her jaw as their tongues met and tentatively became reacquainted.

Sarah moaned, and Macy suddenly flinched and shoved Sarah violently away. "Mother fucker," she growled, and pressed the cuff of her sleeve to her lips.

Sarah retreated and said, "Sorry. I'm sorry."

"You're not," Macy said. She turned her back on Sarah and steadied her breathing. Her cheeks were flushed, and she felt tears burning her eyes. "God, this is just what I need."

"Anna..."

Macy spun around. "I told you to stop calling me that." She sucked air in through her mouth and released it through her nostrils, panting like a horse after a long run. Every exhale blew the loose tendrils of Sarah's hair away from her face, and they settled back on her cheeks a moment later. Macy grabbed Sarah's collar and pulled her forward, kissing her hard. Sarah yelped in surprise, expecting an attack but not one like this. She pulled at her handcuffs, resting her hands on Macy's chest as Macy pushed her down onto the bench.

"Wait, stop," Sarah said when the kiss broke. She rattled her cuffs against the pipe, but Macy ignored her. She ran her hands down Sarah's body, caressing her through her rough, dirty clothing before tugging her shirttail from her jeans. Sarah sagged against the wall of their berth, rolled her eyes back in her head, and groaned as Macy reached down and tugged her boots off. She lifted Sarah's right foot to her lips and kissed the arch, running her tongue to the toes and taking the biggest one into her mouth. As she teased it with her teeth and tongue, Sarah undid the button of her jeans and shoved them down, lying on her back as she lifted her legs into the air to make removing the pants either. Macy dragged them up and off, letting them drop into the corner behind her. She pushed Sarah's legs apart and looked down at her naked legs, her dark pubic hair, and the moisture already present on the folds of her sex.

Macy moved like she was running out of time, her hands trembling as she stroked the bare flesh of Sarah's inner thighs. She bowed her head and pressed her lips to Sarah's hip, running her tongue over the curved flesh between her leg and stomach. Sarah lifted her other leg and braced it against the wall, putting her cuff hands on the back of Macy's head and shoving her down.

Macy slipped her hands underneath Sarah, cupping her ass and lifting her lower body. Sarah parted her lips and moaned as Macy's lips brushed over her mound. Macy extended her tongue and Sarah cried out, arching her back. Macy's tongue slipped into her, curling and twisting before Macy pulled her head back and brushed her lips over Sarah's wet folds, using the flat of her tongue to spread the moisture before making another assault. 

Sarah dropped her foot onto Macy's back, her heel digging into Macy's shoulder. Macy ignored it and focused on the almost forgotten taste of Sarah Lamb, the woman she loved, hearing the sound of her lover whimper and groan and cry out in pleasure. Sarah's fingers untied Macy's bun, pulling out random strings until Macy's hair was a wild mess of hay-colored straw, sticking up in every direction between Sarah's grasping fingers.

"Oh... Anna... Anna, don't stop, please don't stop..."

Tears rolled down Macy's cheeks as she realized there had been moments when Sarah didn't lie to her. Moments like this, when they had been wrapped in each others arms. No words, just heavy breathing and soft touches. That couldn't have been a lie. This was the real Sarah. This was the one thing she could trust.

Macy used her tongue on Sarah's clit, holding her down as Sarah began to buck against her mouth. "God, yes, Anna, please... please, Anna..."

When Sarah came, Macy held her tight, using her tongue to gently stroke the sensitive flesh until Sarah collapsed against the bench. Macy placed a kiss to the dark hair between Sarah's legs, then turned her head and left a line of kisses along her thighs. Sarah shuddered through a series of aftershocks, grunting quietly with each one, her fingers still linked in Macy's hair. Macy straightened up and pushed up the tail of Sarah's shirt to kiss her stomach, then licked her lips and rested her cheek on Sarah's hip.

Her tears dripped down onto Sarah's skin, mixing with her sweat. She turned her head and licked the salty moisture away, taking the chance to remember how Sarah tasted one more time. Then she withdrew and sat on her knees, turned so Sarah couldn't see her face. She heard Sarah shift on the bench, sitting up and moving into the corner of the seat so she couldn't be seen from the door. 

Neither of them spoke for a long time. Macy eventually picked up the discarded jeans and handed them to Sarah without looking at her. As Sarah pulled her jeans back on, Macy sat on the edge of the cot and covered her face with both hands. She was still trembling, but she couldn't stop running her tongue over her lips. She could still taste Sarah, like a drunkard given a sip of wine, and it was all she could do not to drop back to her knees and drink until she got her fill.

When her hands stopped trembling, she reached up and smoothed her hair, returning it to the braid. She risked looking at Sarah again, relieved to see she had put her jeans back on. Her boots were lying on the floor, and Macy dropped to one knee and picked up the right one.

"I'm sorry."

Sarah said, "Don't be."

"You said stop."

"I didn't mean 'stop.' I meant... my hands..."

Macy picked up Sarah's foot and slipped the boot back onto it. She did the same with the other boot, but she kept Sarah's foot on her thigh as she cupped Sarah's calf and massaged it through the jeans. She worked the muscle for a moment and then looked up to meet Sarah's eyes.

"Consider that my goodbye to Sarah Lamb." 

She pushed herself up and left the room, slamming the door behind her. She pressed her hand to her mouth, barely able to keep from screaming as the tears started to pour from her eyes. She realized a moment too late that Benjamin was with her in the tight corridor, and she turned her back on him.

"Ms. Sheriff," he said.

"Move along, Benjamin," she said, injecting some steel into her voice.

Benjamin said, "There sounded like there was some kind of tussle with the prisoner. I didn't want to--"

"Everything's fine, Benjamin. Get the fuck out of here."

"Ma'am, but... I'll go, but you told me to keep an eye out." Macy turned, wiping her eyes and blinking rapidly until Benjamin came into focus. He was pale again. 

"What is it?"

"We saw 'em when we came around the last turn a few miles back. We kept waiting for them to go away, but... there's a couple men on horses ridin' alongside the train. They got guns."


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter Twenty-Seven,**

Macy followed Benjamin through the mostly empty cars to the back of the train. It felt like a bad dream, rushing into one car only to reach the end and find another waiting for them, an endless repetition until she ended up back where she started. But they finally reached the last train, and Benjamin pointed frantically toward the window. 

Macy took a moment to scan the car. Several of the passengers they'd picked up in Kingfisher were there, huddled on the far side of the train in a handful of booth-style seating. There were a handful of elderly female riders, and a young man with dark hair and a wispy mustache. He looked up as she entered, more interested in what was going on outside. The elderly people had huddled together in the farthest-back seat, their lips moving silently as they recited prayers to each other. One of them saw her badge and clutched the arm of another.

Macy grabbed Benjamin to keep his attention. "Did you tell the passengers to move to that side of the train?"

"Yes," Benjamin said. "The riders are on the east side of the train, so I figured I'd get everyone on the west side just to be safe..."

"Good thinking," Macy said. "Show me where they are."

Benjamin moved to the closest window and bent down. "Oh, hell!" He ducked down and said, "They're right on top of us!"

Macy looked past him and saw the trio of riders. They had just reached the last car, all of them masked and armed. The one in the lead spotted her, and Macy dropped down and covered Benjamin's body with her own. She turned to the other passengers and waved for them to crouch. "Get below the level of the windows," she said just as something pinged off the side of the car. One of the women screamed, and Macy pulled her gun from the holster.

"Stay put," she said to Benjamin, and she motioned for everyone else to do the same. She slipped back down the aisle, and the young mustachioed man followed her. She heard his pursuit and spun on her heel to face him. "Sir, I have everything in hand. I don't need you to endanger yourself. Return to your seat."

"I've done some shooting, ma'am. If you need an extra pair of hands, I'm ready and willing."

"That won't be necessary. Please go back to your seat." She didn't wait to see if he complied before she continued on to the front of the car. She pushed the door open and stepped out onto the platform, pressing herself against the car to use it as a shield as she leaned out into the open air rushing along the side of the train. The riders were almost on her, but they were all watching the windows to see when she would reappear.

The lead rider was holding the reins with his right hand, his left stretched across his body to aim the gun at the train. Macy aimed at his weapon and said, "This is for Henry, you son of a bitch." She pulled the trigger.

The gunman shouted and dropped his weapon, pulling on the reins so hard that his horse immediately stopped running. The other two gunmen also slowed down, turning to face their injured leader. Macy fired twice more, aiming between the two men, and they dropped to hug the necks of their mounts as they tried to wheel around and return her fire. 

One of them surged forward, close enough that Macy could see the sweat dripping between his eyes and darkening the bandana that covered his nose and mouth. He brought his gun up, and Macy reached out with her free hand and grabbed the sleeve of his shirt. The man pulled back, but his horse continued forward. Macy twisted, and the man was yanked from the seat. He shouted as he fell from his horse, his feet tangling in the stirrups. Macy released his shirt, and slapped the horse's haunches. It rode away from the train, the rider struggled to keep from sliding underneath the beast.

Macy turned to the final rider, but he had fallen back. The man she'd shot was clutching his bloody right hand against his chest, the train all but forgotten. Macy leaned back in and exhaled sharply, checking to confirm she had three bullets left. There was extra ammunition in her bag, but not a lot. If she had to fight off the entire gang, things might get interesting very quickly.

She moved back into the car and checked to make sure everyone was unscathed. Benjamin stood and met her in the aisle. "I didn't hear nothing break the glass. Everyone seems to have made it through without bein' hurt."

"Good," Macy said. The adrenaline was starting to wear off, and she was aware that her hands were shaking tremendously. She hooked her thumbs in the back of her belt so the passengers would be less likely to notice. She looked out the window and saw the three men riding toward the hills in the distance, one horse running without a rider. Macy saw that the man she'd injured was riding with one of the others, and she felt a surge of pride for getting Henry's vengeance.

"Come on, Ben, walk with me." He followed her out of the car, turning to assure the passengers he'd be right back before they moved to the next car. Macy spoke to him without turning around. "How far are we from the next stop?"

"We're still about halfway between Kingfisher and Enid. We're gonna be stopped there for about twenty minutes."

Macy said, "Can you make it a full half hour? Maybe more? I need to get some more supplies and maybe some extra ammo just in case we have any more surprises waiting for us on the rest of the trip. I want to send a telegram, too, back to Roman. Make sure everything's quiet back there."

Benjamin said, "I'll talk to the engineer. We're running ahead of schedule, so it shouldn't be too big a deal."

"Good man," Macy said. "You did real good coming to get me when you did."

He exhaled sharply and shook his head. "I didn't know what to do when I saw them guns. I just froze. But I knew you had to come and deal with it."

Macy nodded. "You did it perfectly, Ben. You're a good temporary deputy."

They stopped at Macy's room, and she motioned for him to continue forward. "Go talk to the engineer, then keep your eyes on our tail to make sure no one's followin' us." He nodded and hurried off, still beaming that she'd called him a deputy. Macy turned to face the door, but she kept her hand resting on the handle without pushing the door open.

 _God, what was I thinking? I must be out of my goddamn mind._ She rested her head against the door and tried to steady her nerves. The shootout was only just registering in her mind, and now she had to go into the room and face Sarah again. She finally pushed the door open and stepped into the room, pulling the door shut behind her. Sarah was still sitting on the bench, her hands in her lap. The way the chain wrapped around the pipe didn't give her much room to maneuver, but she'd found the optimal way to sit so she wasn't twisted like a pretzel. 

"I heard shooting."

"Three of your guys rode up on the train. I think they aimed to board us."

Sarah's eyes didn't betray anything. "What did you do?"

"One of 'em got the gun shot from his hand. Fair play for what they did to Henry. He'll probably lose some fingers. I knocked the other out' his saddle, and the other one decided it was time to turn tail and regroup."

Sarah nodded slowly. "Don't suppose you got a good look at any of 'em."

"The man I pulled out of his saddle had blue eyes, real thick eyebrows. Kind of a beefy fella." She sat on the edge of her bunk and looked out the window.

"Probably Wyatt, then," Sarah said. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Sure ya are," Macy muttered.

Sarah said, "I lived with these people my whole life. They're the closest thing I've ever had to a family. So I'm not gonna stand up and cheer because they got hurt. But if it was between them or you, then I'm glad it wasn't you. That's all."

Macy looked at her. As a lie, it got her nothing. Macy nodded and said, "Yeah. So am I."

They sat in silence and Macy worked at the skin around her thumbnail for a while. When the train went around a curve, Macy gripped the upper bunk with one hand and watched as Sarah swayed far to the left with the motion of the train. When they settled, Sarah looked out the window at the passing landscape.

"This is the farthest I've ever been from home. Kind of ironic. I finally get to see the world, and it's on my way to a prison cell."

"Your own damn fault," Macy said.

Sarah said, "Didn't claim it wasn't."

They lapsed back into silence. Macy stood up and opened her bag, taking out the extra ammo and loading it into her gun so she'd be prepared for the next attack. She had just slipped the last bullet into the cylinder when Sarah spoke again.

"Thank you."

Macy didn't look at her.

"For... what happened right before you left. What you did. I'll remember it as a kindness."

Macy slipped the gun back into her holster and turned to face Sarah. "This the real you?" Sarah frowned, so Macy said, "I've seen a couple versions of ya, so I just want to be sure. I saw you riding the day you stole our money. First time we met, I guess. You shot at me. You rode like you owned the whole damn world. Then I saw the sweet and innocent little housewife. Poor abused Sarah--"

"I never said I--"

"Shut your damn mouth. And now I see this weak little wallflower. So excuse me for wondering which version of you is the real thing."

Sarah shook her head. "Not this. I'm not this... person. But every time I see you, I think of how badly I hurt you. I don't know if I was just pretending my whole life, or if I changed because of what you've done to me. But I know I'm not the same person I was before I met you."

"You're still goin' to prison for what the old you did."

"I know," Sarah said. "I've come to peace with that."

Macy looked down at her boots. 

Sarah stood up, her hands moving to her left hip due to the cuffs. She stood in front of Macy and said, "I think I spent too long trying to be the son my Daddy never had. I grew up putting on an act until the act became all I was. Then you came along and I had to become someone I'd never been before. I had to become myself."

Macy scoffed and looked away, but her eyes from Sarah's face. "Everything you've ever said to me was a lie. You took me out of town so my people could be caught off-guard. You gonna tell me you didn't know about that?"

"I knew," Sarah said. "And it killed me, but I made the right decision in the end. I turned against my family for you, Anna, and I'm sorry it took me a long time to make that choice. But I did. That's when I changed. That's when I stopped being Sarah Lucas and became Sarah Lamb for real. I didn't want Deacon and the others to win. I wanted you to win. I wanted to help you, even if it meant... well, even if it meant this."

Macy laughed quietly. "Yeah. I won. I sure won." She put her hand on Sarah's shoulder and gently pushed her back down on the bench. "Sit down and be quiet," she said with a rough voice. "And it's Sheriff Macy. Don't forget again."

"Sorry," Sarah said, her voice barely loud enough to be heard.

Macy turned her back and walked out of the room. They had another hour or so before they hit Enid, and she planned to spend it at the back of the train watching for more of the Lucas gang. If nothing else, she could blame the tears in her eyes on the wind.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter Twenty-Eight,**

Once again, the sheriff was waiting when they arrived at the Enid train station. He was an older man with big ears and a pointed jaw, and his eyes widened with surprise when he saw the blonde woman wearing the gold badge of sheriff. He introduced himself as Samuel, and told her that he would offer any help she might need.

Macy led him to the back of the train and they inspected the damage left by the attempted boarding. They only found a single dent, easily ignored in the grand scheme of things. She explained the situation in more detail than the telegram could provide and then asked if he could spare any extra supplies. He offered up ammunition and, like the sheriff in Kingfisher, volunteered as many of his men as she needed to provide an extra guard.

"It's not escape I'm worried about," Macy said. "As long as she's safely squared away, she won't go anywhere."

The engineer had agreed to extend their stop in Enid, so Macy took the time to go inside the train station and send a telegram back to Roman. She typed a quick message to let people know that she was okay despite two attempts to take the train, and the prisoner was still secured. Benjamin had estimated their arrival in Leavenworth at no later than seven the following morning, and she promised more news before then.

She had sent off the telegram and was returning to the train with only a few minutes to spare. The whistle had blown twice, so she was moving quickly across the platform as Benjamin dropped down and ran toward her. "Ms. Sheriff," he said, blotches of red rising in his cheeks as he ran to her. 

"Ben. I got some shells for that shotgun of yours, so we'll have two weapons."

"There's another rider," Benjamin said, pointing south. "We just spotted him."

Macy cursed and said, "All right. Come on." She carried her bag carefully, wary of the ammunition within, and ran with Benjamin back to the train. They boarded, and she said, "Anyone try to come near the prisoner?"

"No, ma'am, no one at all."

"Go tell the engineer we're leaving... early." She moved to the window and then grabbed Benjamin's jacket. "Hold up."

Benjamin said, "Ma'am, he's almost here. We can't let him get on. We picked up more passengers--"

"I know that. He ain't with them." She smiled and said, "Tell the engineer to hold off. We got another passenger on the way."

She put down her bag and left the train, running across the platform. Her face broke into a smile when she confirmed that it was indeed Henry Rucker riding up on the train station. His face was red, dripping with sweat, and his horse didn't look too much better. He dismounted and took Daedalus' reins as he walked along the edge of the platform. "Hey, Sheriff," he said, panting each syllable.

"What are you doin' here, Henry?"

He said, "You forgot your pocketwatch."

"I don't wear a pocketwatch."

Henry said, "Oh. Must have been someone else's. I'll just head on back, then."

Macy laughed and reached down to help him up onto the platform. "Engineer was just about to head on out. You just barely made us."

Henry hooked a thumb over his shoulder and said, "Had to detour around a stream. Lost a few minutes. Got any water?"

"Yeah, onboard." She turned and saw Benjamin, waving him over. "Can you find a place for Deputy Rucker's horse in the livestock car?"

Benjamin said, "Uh, he ain't got a ticket, Ms. Sheriff..."

"I'll cover 'em both," Macy said. "Promise."

Benjamin nodded, glanced at Henry's gloved hand, and hurried off to get Daedalus squared off as quickly as possible. Macy guided Henry back to the train.

"Ms. Sheriff?" Henry muttered.

"Shut it," she said. She let Henry board first and he dropped into the first available seat with a weary sigh. Macy sat next to him and looked at the bag of ammunition she'd gotten from the Enid sheriff. "Glad you're here, Henry. I could use your help keeping my head clear."

Henry wiped his forehead with a handkerchief and looked sideways at her. "You havin' problems?"

"I'm a little turned around, yeah," she admitted. She chewed her bottom lip and said, "I gotta confess something. It doesn't go no farther than you or me, but you should know if you're gonna be on this train with me." Henry nodded and Macy looked down at her hands. "After the payroll got stolen, I met Sarah Lucas. Only she told me her name was Sarah Lamb. She told me that she was from another town, lookin' for her stolen horse. We got to talkin', and we started to spend time together. And then something happened. We got close. Really close."

Henry frowned, but he didn't say anything.

"She admits she was usin' me at first, but then she said she had real feelings. Like it's better if only half of it was a total lie." She felt tears burning her eyes, but she refused to cry in front of Henry. "She tried to warn me about the jailbreak, but not soon enough. It's 'cause of her that you lost your hand. Should've been me. But she had me distracted. She used me. That's why I couldn't hardly stand being in the jailhouse this past month."

"Because she pretended to be your friend?"

"'Cause she pretended she was in love with me," Macy said. "We were together, like... a man and a woman would be."

Henry's eyes widened and he slumped back against his seat. "Jesus, Anna."

"I know. If this ever got out back in Roman..."

"Yeah," Henry said.

Macy said, "I can handle watching her. But I need you to make sure I don't... lose my head."

"I'll do what I can."

Macy looked at him. "You disgusted?"

He exhaled sharply and narrowed his eyes. "It ain't nothing I ever thought about you, Anna. Be honest, I've seen you since you were a little girl, so thinking about you in bed with anyone. Up 'til now I just figured you didn't have sex."

"Up 'til now, I mostly didn't," Macy said.

He sighed. "You don't have to worry about me. Your secret is safe."

Benjamin came back onto the train a minute later, breathing heavily from the effort of getting Daedalus onboard. "Your horse is all set up, Deputy," he said. "Can I tell the engineer we're good to go?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Benjamin," Macy said. She and Henry both stood and moved down the aisle toward the berth where Sarah was imprisoned. "She's down here. Haven't had much trouble with her, but I feel a lot better knowing you're backing me up now."

"You're saying she won't go with the gang even if they get onboard?"

"She's under the impression they ain't coming to save her. She thinks she screwed up one too many times and they're coming to make sure the transition from one leader to the next is as seamless as possible."

Henry scoffed. "Screwed up? She stole the town payroll, took off half my hand... what exactly has she failed at?"

"Killing me," Macy said. She pushed open the door and Sarah looked up. She eyed Henry for a moment, but didn't seem overly surprised to see him. "What's goin' on?"

"Deputy Rucker is gonna be keeping an eye on you from here on," Macy said. "Don't give him any trouble."

Sarah looked at Henry again and ducked her chin. She looked at his left hand and winced before turning away. "Sure. I understand."

Macy nodded and took the handcuff keys from her pocket. "If you need 'em. You might want to move her to the bunk when she gets tired." Henry took the keys from her and Macy looked at Sarah. "You didn't get any lunch. You want something to eat?"

"Sure, I could eat," Sarah said, again staring at Henry's gloved hand.

Henry held the hand up so she could see it better. "Like that? That's what your people did to me. Nearly took the whole thing. Might have been better if they had." He took the glove off and held the hand out so she could see the stumps of his three fingers. "Used to be left handed. Getting pretty good at using my right, though. As tight as this room is, I don't think I'll have any trouble hitting you even using my lame hand."

Macy whispered, "Enough, Hank."

Henry tugged his glove back on, pressing his lips together. "All right. I just haven't really had a chance to look her in the eye since... this all happened. Kind of been avoiding it. Didn't want to lose it like I just did." He looked at Sarah. "Sorry."

"I'm the one who owes you an apology, Deputy Rucker. I'm sorry for what I did."

Macy said, "You all right, Henry?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just needed to vent. I'll be fine."

"Okay. I'll see what kind of food they got on this train. Both of you behave." She turned and left the room, looking both ways before she remembered seeing a dining car toward the back of the train. The train felt smaller after their latest stop, and she had to step aside to let other passengers pass her several times before she reached the dining car. Benjamin was there, helping out the trio of waiters who were taking orders. Macy waved him over, and he came as soon as he had a moment.

"Sorry, Ms. Sheriff..."

"All right, enough with that. Just call me Macy. I need a couple of meals."

Benjamin nodded. "We're serving pot roast, roast beef sandwiches--"

"Just whatever you have." She followed him across the dining car and looked at the passengers. Most of them were on the east side of the train, pointing out landmarks as they waited for their meals. "Got a lot of people in Enid, I guess."

"Yeah, we usually get quite a few from there," Benjamin said.

"Anyone worth looking at?"

Benjamin turned to face her. "What do you mean?"

"You checked out the passengers, right? When they were boarding?" Even as she asked the question, she knew there was no reason for him to have kept an eye open. He was a steward, not a deputy. She cursed under her breath and turned, running back the way she had come. The aisles seemed even more crowded this time, and she shoved more than one person out of her way as she ran. She heard people calling her names behind her back, and more than one person pointing out that she had a gun. She ignored them all as she raced back to where she'd left Henry and Sarah.

The door to the room was closed, and Macy called Henry's name as she approached. She reached the room just as the door slid open. Henry stepped out and looked at her empty hands.

"I thought you were bringing lunch."

Macy gently pushed him back into the room and stood in the doorway. "I wasn't thinking. We let a whole gaggle of passengers on the train at Enid, but no one took the time to check any of 'em out. One of the Lucas gang might be on the train right now."

"Damn," Henry said. He took the gun from his holster and checked to make sure it was loaded.

Sarah stood up and said, "Let them kill me."

"Sit down," Macy and Henry both said.

Sarah said, "I'm not going to stand here and watch one or both of you get killed trying to protect me. I've done enough to both of you." She looked pointedly at Henry's hand. "If you're smart, you'll stand me in the middle of the aisle and paint a target in the middle of my chest. End this once and for all."

Henry said, "You don't get off that easily."

Macy said, "You think they'll kill you and ride off into the sunset? Henry and I are just as vulnerable. So sit down, shut up, and stop trying to be a goddamn martyr." 

She turned to leave the room, but someone stepped into the doorway and blocked her. She dropped her hand to the butt of her gun just as the man's fist swung up and caught her on the side of the head. Macy fell hard, every muscle in her body going limp as she crumpled to the floor. Rather than pain, a radiating numbness spread from her temple to the midpoint of her forehead. The man stepped into the room and brought his gun up, leveling the barrel at Henry's face before he cocked the hammer.

"Hi, folks."


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter Twenty-Nine,**

Henry ducked toward the bunk, his ruined left hand dropping to his hip out of instinct and slapping empty air. Macy rolled onto her back and saw she had no time to get her own gun up. The intruder ignored both her and Henry as he stepped into the room and aimed his gun at Sarah. 

Sarah rose to her feet, facing the man with steel in her eyes, not even trying to take cover. "Get it over with, Liam."

Macy watched Liam shift his weight to his right foot and saw opportunity staring her in the face. She swung her leg up and slammed the heel of her boot into the back of his right knee. Liam immediately dropped, his shot going wide and hitting the top corner of the room. As the shooter fell, Macy grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him down to the floor. She rolled on top of him, yanking the gun from his hand and tossing it onto the bed. "Henry, cuffs!" She turned and saw Henry staring at her. "Handcuffs, Henry, now!"

He finally pulled the cuffs off his belt and handed them to her. Macy cuffed Liam and got to her feet. Her temple was now throbbing, her arm sore where she'd hit the ground. She turned to Sarah. "You all right?"

Sarah nodded slowly, staring at Liam. 

"Henry, keep an eye on her." She shoved Liam out into the corridor, where she saw Benjamin approaching with a shotgun.

"I heard gunfire," he panted.

"Everything's fine now," she said. "Sorry, but I'm gonna need someplace else to stow this guy until we get to... what's the next stop?"

"Medford," Benjamin said. He ran a hand through his hair and looked back down the train. "Uh. Uh, we can find someplace, I guess." He ran a finger along his upper lip and then said, "Go toward the front of the train. Got an idea." Macy hauled Liam along as she followed Benjamin toward the locomotive. She could smell the smoke that wafted through the open doors as they grew closer to the engine, and Benjamin finally stopped and threw open the door to the baggage car.

Macy took a quick look around the area. It was a dark, cramped area with suitcases stacked and secured to the floor by webs of rope. There was a spot in the corner, far from any windows, where Liam could be comfortable and still be out of the way. She guided Liam inside and took him to the nearest corner. "Sit," she said, forcing him down onto a pile of suitcases. "Ben, hold that gun on him. Shoot him if he tries anything."

"Shoot him?"

"You're deputized, it's good and legal."

Benjamin swallowed hard and tightened his grip on the shotgun. Macy lifted Liam's arms and hooked the cuffs to a railing. It left his hands even with his shoulders and, she hoped, would keep him from even trying to escape. She stepped back, out of the range of his legs if he decided to start kicking, and looked at Benjamin. "You got any ammo in that gun?"

"No, ma'am," Benjamin said.

Macy nodded. "Didn't think so. There's some in the bag I brought aboard back in Enid. Give the gun to Deputy Rucker and tell him where we stowed this big fella."

"Yes, ma'am." He turned and fled, grateful for the reprieve. Macy waited until the door closed before she turned and faced Liam again.

Liam slumped against the wall and looked over the sea of bags. He looked like a cattle rancher, with broad shoulders and a wide chest. His jaw seemed larger than the rest of his skull, forcing his chin to jut out past the tip of his nose and making Macy think of an angry bull. He smirked and turned his beady black eyes back on Macy.

"You look pretty pleased with yourself," Macy said.

"Figure there's something in here I could use to pick the lock. Just a matter of time 'fore I do what I came to do."

"And that would be killing Sarah Lucas. I thought she was the leader of your little gang."

"Was," he said. "Back when she was actually puttin' us first, yeah, we had no problem callin' her our leader. But then she lost focus. Deacon is the one who cares about us. So we just gotta take care of this little piece of business before we move on."

Macy said, "Move on?"

"Oh, yeah. Deacon's got big plans for us. Wyoming's got more cattle than people, so he figures no one will notice when one or two head go missing." He leaned forward. "All you gotta do is hand over Ms. Lucas and we'll be outta your hair. Won't even have to go all the way up to Kansas. Just hop the next train back to Roman and start a new day."

"Sarah Lucas was tried in a court of law and found guilty. It's my job to make sure she fills her sentence. No one said she oughta die for her crimes, so I'm gonna abide by that ruling." She stepped closer. "How many men are waitin' for us down the line?"

Liam leaned back and looked away from her again.

"I know you got ten people."

He scoffed quietly.

"So it's more," Macy said.

Liam looked at her like she'd read his mind. Then he said, "I'm not telling you anything."

"You left two people behind in Roman, and I fought off those three who came after us before we hit Enid. Then there's you. So that's six. How many more should I expect to deal with on this damn train ride? Six? Seven?"

"Go to hell, lady."

"That's Sheriff Lady to you, sir," she said. "I'm gonna drop you off in Medford and you can wait for trial in a nice little jail cell. Imagine how much nicer that'll be if I can tell Medford's sheriff that you were cooperative. Now I know what you're probably thinking. Deacon and the boys wouldn't look too kind on you telling their business. But I don't think they'd be too thrilled that you got taken down by a woman who was layin' at your feet while you had your gun out. Might be a little embarrassing. Only three people saw that happen, and I can convince one of 'em to keep quiet. The other, well... you know who she's gonna be spending her time with once we get her to Leavenworth.

"You're going to jail either way, Mr. Liam. Let me send you there with some of your pride still intact."

Liam glared at her as he thought about what she was saying. She sighed and checked her watch. "We got about two hours before we hit Medford. I'm going to give you time to think about how you want this to end." She turned and pushed the door open.

"Ten."

Macy turned and looked at him. He was looking away, hating himself for the word that had already been spoken. He chewed the inside of his cheeks for a moment, working up the courage to say more. Macy closed the door and waited.

"Like I said, Deacon's got plans up in Wyomin'. He brought some people down over the past month to help out. We're sixteen total, so you got ten more people down along the line."

"They at the stations?" Macy said. "Or waiting to try and board us between stops?"

Liam shrugged and said, "Told you what I know. Deacon sent me to Enid yesterday to wait for the train. Told me to get onboard and keep my eye on you, follow you to wherever Sarah was bein' held. Then I was supposed to finish the job. You know how well that went."

"Deacon won't be too mad at you, I guess," Macy said. "Five other guys failed to do the same thing. Anyone on board with you?"

Liam shook his head.

"Sit tight. I'll send someone to keep an eye on you." She left the car, checking to see if the door could be locked from the outside. She saw a latch and threw it, then went back to where she'd left Henry and Sarah.

Henry was standing in front of the door, head down, thumbs hooked in the pockets of his jeans. Macy blew out a breath of air as she approached, and he looked up.

"Gonna get a lot of exercise runnin' from one end of this train to the other."

Henry said, "Sorry, Anna."

"For what?"

He dropped his voice to a low, angry hiss. "I was about as useful in there as a goddamn cigar store Indian. I saw the gun and I just froze."

Macy put her hand on Henry's shoulder. "It was your first time back in action. It's understandable that you're a little gun shy after what happened. We're both dealing with a bunch of shit right now. Once we drop Sarah off in Leavenworth, we'll be done with the Lucas gang forever. We'll go back to Roman and get past this. For now let's just focus on keeping our prisoners in one piece. I took Liam down to the baggage car, and we'll drop him off in Medford when we stop there. According to him we have ten more surprises waiting for us down the line. I need you at the top of your game for that."

Henry nodded. "I won't let you down like that again, boss."

"I know you won't," Macy said. She looked past him at the closed door. "How's she holdin' up?"

"Shaken up. I think she was really expecting the guy to shoot her. Don't think she had much of a problem with the idea, either."

Macy nodded. "Okay. I never managed to get our lunch, so I'll let you do that. I'll talk with her."

"Yeah, okay. Thanks, boss."

She patted him on the shoulder as they switched places, Macy stepping into the room and closing the door. Sarah stood up as Macy entered.

"Why'd you stop him? This bullshit could have been over and done with."

Macy grabbed Sarah's face and kissed her. Sarah grunted in surprise and her body went stiff, her body twisted strangely because of the handcuffs holding her to the pipe. Macy broke the kiss but kept her eyes closed. Sarah rested her forehead against Macy's and sagged forward. 

"I saw him shooting you. And I couldn't..."

"Shh," Sarah whispered.

"Couldn't bear the idea. I couldn't stand the thought of seeing you dead. God damn you."

Sarah kissed her softly and Macy accepted the kiss. She heard the clink of handcuffs against the pipe, and Sarah whispered, "I want to touch you. I want to put my arms around you."

Macy reached into her pocket and realized that Henry still had the keys. She cursed under her breath and then repositioned Sarah so she was facing the wall. She dropped down, slipping under Sarah's right arm so that Sarah was embracing her. They kissed again, and Sarah pressed her hands against Macy's back to pull her close.

Sarah's tongue ran along Macy's lips, and Macy pushed Sarah down onto the bench, sweeping Sarah's feet apart with her boot. She was almost panting as she dropped her hands to the top button on Sarah's blouse.

"Stop."

"Don't tell me to stop," Macy growled.

"Your deputy is coming back in a second, isn't he?"

Macy's fingers hesitated on the button and then dropped away. She closed her eyes and said, "Shit. Henry."

Sarah kissed Macy again and lifted her arms. Macy ducked out of Sarah's embrace and backed away to the bunks. They stared at each other across the vast distance of the sleeping car, the Oklahoma landscape rolling endlessly past the window to Macy's right and Sarah's left. Macy looked at the sea of green and brown and wondered how close they were to the Kansas border. Medford was the last town in Oklahoma, she knew. Once Sarah crossed the border, it was likely she'd never enter the state of Oklahoma again.

"Why do you have to be his daughter?" she said quietly.

"Why did you have to be the sheriff's?" Sarah countered.

Macy moved forward, both steps requiring all of her effort. She knelt in front of Sarah and slipped her fingers under Sarah's palms. Sarah gripped her hands and squeezed, and Macy bent down to kiss her knuckles.

"I'm so sorry for everything I've done to you, Sheriff Macy."

Macy whispered, "Anna."

"Anna." She pulled her hands away from Macy and put them on top of her head, stroking her hair as Macy rested her head in Sarah's lap and put her arms around Sarah's waist.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter Thirty,**

By the time Henry returned with their meals, Macy was sitting on the bunk with her back to the wall, facing the door. He carried a tray with three covered plates, and he set it down awkwardly on the bench next to Sarah's hip. "I got the roast beef sandwiches. Figured you didn't want the prisoner getting any silverware."

Macy managed to smile as she sat forward. "Good call, Henry. You get anything for Mr. Liam, the other prisoner?"

"I did, boss," Henry said. "Dropped it off when I checked to make sure he was behaving himself. He managed to get half his arm caught behind that railing you cuffed him to, but I got him loose. Didn't want him losing an arm just 'cause blood couldn't get to it."

Macy nodded as she took her lunch.

"And I talked to that steward you were dragging around earlier. He told me we were getting a little behind schedule now, but we should hit Medford at one o'clock as planned, maybe a little after."

"Sounds good. Go on and sit. You're probably hungrier than anyone the way you had to ride and catch up with us."

Henry said, "That's the truth. But I'm gonna go down to the baggage car to keep an eye on ol' what's-his-name." He took the shotgun off the top bunk and tucked the butt of it under his right arm. "This oughta keep him from being too much of a nuisance. I'll eat my lunch and then keep my eyes peeled for anyone trying to catch up with us." He looked at Sarah. "You gonna be okay here with her?"

"I'll be fine," Macy said. 

"If you need anything just shout," he said. "I'll come running."

"Henry," she said just as he was closing the door. "When you come back, announce yourself. I don't want another surprise guest, and I don't want to pull my gun on ya."

Henry said, "Will do."

The door closed, and Macy stood up and moved to sit next to Sarah on the bench. "You need help eating?"

"No," Sarah said. "But sit here anyway."

Macy put her plate on her lap and opened the lid. The sandwich was sitting in the center of the plate, surrounded by fat wedges of fried potatoes. The two of them ate in silence, occasionally dipping their potatoes in the dollop of ketchup that Henry had put on the plate. Macy tried to focus on the food, ignoring how her thigh and Sarah's pressed together. Being so close to her was distracting and made her hands shake as she picked up her sandwich and took a bite.

"I wish I'd been a teacher."

Macy looked at Sarah and slowly finishing chewing her mouthful. "Pardon?"

Sarah shook her head and looked down at her food. "There were always a lot of kids running around the camp. They needed someone to teach them. A couple of their parents did lessons, but it wasn't anything formal like a real education. When I was real little, I thought I'd give it a try. Become a teacher, help out that way. Don't know. I guess when someone implied it would be impossible for me to follow in Daddy's footsteps, that's when I became determined that I had to."

She ate another potato wedge. "Maybe it would've been easier. For a sheriff and a teacher to be in love."

"You were still born a girl," Macy said. "And I was, too. Nothing about that equals easy."

"Suppose," Sarah said.

Macy laughed quietly. "Could've gone the other way, too. I grew up in the sheriff's house, so when I got to be a teenager, I rebelled some. Stole from the general store." Sarah chuckled. "Just candy, nothing big. Daddy threw me in jail when I got caught, made me stay there overnight. Taught me my lesson. But maybe if I'd been a little wilder I'd have ended up running away. I might have joined up with your gang."

Sarah shook her head. "Sheriff's daughter. We'd have just taken you prisoner for ransom."

"How much would you ask for? How much you think I'm worth?"

Sarah looked at Macy. "The moon and all the stars."

Macy looked away and focused on her sandwich. 

"Don't ask me to let you go," Macy said suddenly.

"I won't."

"Because I think I would."

Sarah leaned in and kissed Macy's cheek. Macy turned her head and their lips met. Macy closed her eyes and let herself fantasize that this was just a normal train ride. She was going to Kansas just to get a change of scenery, and she met an intriguing woman next to her on the train. A beautiful woman who could make her laugh and make her heart flutter. Their lips parted and they touched tongues, and Macy ran her fingertips over Sarah's arm, feeling her bicep through the sleeve. It was just a woman she'd met. There was no history or anger or betrayal between them.

They pulled away from each other and Sarah exhaled. She licked her lips and rested her head against the wall.

"Nice to meet you, Sarah."

Sarah opened her eyes. "The pleasure is mine, Anna."

Macy had to come to terms with the fact that she was in love with this woman, whatever her name might be. Whatever her history was, right now she was just a woman. 

"Could..."

Macy waited for the rest of the question, but it never came. "What?"

"No."

"What?"

Sarah said, "I wanted to know if you might move up here. Get a job at the prison. But your life is in Oklahoma. I couldn't... it's selfish of me. The worst part of prison is the knowledge I'll never see you again. I think of that, and my heart clenches up inside of me."

"I know."

Sarah pulled back and leaned against the wall. Macy looked down at her half-eaten sandwich and put the plate down on the bench next to her.

"Wish I'd met you a long time ago."

Macy said, "Me too." She looked down at Sarah's hands and said, "I need to go take a quick look around to make sure no one's coming up on us. Deacon got a few more men from Wyoming, so we got ten--"

"Wyoming?" Sarah said.

Macy nodded. "That's what Liam said. Deacon's got some kind of cattle rustlin' deal going on up there. He's gonna move up there once he settles matters here."

Sarah's face had gone pale. "Anna, the only people Daddy knew up in Wyoming were Abraham and Patrick Carson. Abe and Trick. They're not just cattle rustlers, they're sharpshooters. Their daddy was a sniper in the Civil War and taught 'em how to take out targets at a hundred paces. They'll shoot a fly off the back of a steer from down the road. And they ain't never been arrested because they kill every person with a badge that comes close to 'em."

"We'll deal with 'em when--"

"No, Anna, you don't understand. They could be standing on a hillside as we pass, and if they get a glimpse of me through the window... that's it. They'll put a bullet through the glass before you even get a chance to see 'em."

Macy pressed her lips together and ran her thumb across her bottom lip. "If that's true, no use worryin' about it." She stepped over to the window and peered out, craning her neck to look at the surrounding hills before she pulled down the shade. She left the bottom crack exposed to provide some light. "Might make things a little dark in here, but I think you'd prefer that to a bullet."

"I'm serious, Anna. Be careful."

Macy stroked Sarah's cheek and bent down to kiss her again. She remembered the earlier violence, slapping Sarah and then forcing herself on her. A gentle kiss did so much more to relieve the pressure around her chest than any violence could. Sarah brought both hands up and hooked them around the buttons of Macy's shirt before letting her go. 

"Hurry back."

"I will," Macy said. 

She left the room and looked both ways down the aisle. She didn't want to take Liam's word that there weren't any other gang members on the train, so she planned to take a good look at the passengers for herself. The cars seemed to be overstuffed with people, but she was sure it was just her perception of potential threats. She eyed everyone she passed, checking them for furtive glances and watching to see if they were carrying any extra weight around their waists. She didn't see any guns, anyone who eyed her badge and started acting suspicious.

When she reached the back of the train, she spotted the young man with the wispy mustache. She motioned him forward and he eagerly came to meet her. "Yes, ma'am, sheriff."

She said, "What's your name?"

"Raymond Sanders."

"You got onboard at Kingfisher, right?" He nodded. "How far are you riding?"

He produced a ticket from the pocket of his coat. "Harington, Kansas, ma'am. We're supposed to get there around nine this evening."

"Excellent. You ever been arrested, Raymond?"

His eyes widened. "I-I... no! What have I done?"

"Nothing. Relax," she said. "I just wanted to be sure before I asked you for a favor. This train is getting a mite full for my tastes, and I think some bad people might be trying to get on board. I need you to do me a favor. I need you to keep your eyes open and let me know if you see anything suspicious. Anyone taking something out of their luggage that they keep hidden, or someone who keeps checking something under their coats. And I need you to watch the train stations when the other passengers board for--"

"Anyone suspicious," he said.

Macy nodded. "Exactly. If you see anything, either come find me or my deputy... he's the fella with the bowler hat and a beard with a little touch of gray."

"The man without no fingers."

Macy touched her chin. "The gray is right here. He's just a little taller than me."

Raymond took the hint and nodded. 

"You can also find that steward I've been runnin' around with, Benjamin. Don't do anything yourself, just come and find either me or Deputy Rucker. You got all that?"

"Watch for guns or anyone suspicious. Don't try to stop anyone."

Macy nodded. "Good man."

She let him go back to his seat. The gaggle of elderly women was still huddled at the back of the car, and they looked at her as she passed. "Sheriff!" one woman said. "Your badge, it says sheriff?"

"That's right."

"My lands!" the woman said, shaking her head in surprise. "Is everything all right? We've heard so much gunfire since we boarded the train."

Another woman said, "I told you, Eunice, that's what we get for coming to _Indian territory._ Nothing but heathens and criminals out here." The speaker looked at Anna, letting her know that she wasn't excluded in the classification.

"Not to worry, ma'am," Macy said. "The heathens only kidnap the pretty, young women. Nothing for you old hens to fear."

She moved to the back of the train, ignoring their gasps of surprise at such speech from a woman. She could hear them clucking their tongues as she pushed open the door and stepped out onto the back platform of the train. Body of the train protected her from most of the wind, providing a small bubble of relatively calm air in which she could stand to observe the land they had just crossed.

Most of Oklahoma stretched out behind her, the ground surprisingly fluid in the way it rose and fell among the hills. Trees, rivers and lakes dotted the landscape, but she only saw potential places for Deacon's men to lie in way for the train to pass. She looked at the hills, unable to ignore that fact that lone trees now looked to her like men aiming high-powered weapons at her. She rested her hands on the railing and looked down at the tracks. They were moving so fast, tearing through the countryside at such speeds it seemed unimaginable to think of anyone catching them. But the truth was Henry managed to catch up with her, so anyone of Deacon's men could do the same.

"You're not takin' her away from me," she said, her words swallowed by the wind so that even she could barely hear them. "I already lost too much for her. I'm not letting her go without a fight, you hear me?" She scanned the ever-changing horizon for signs of movement, for an indication that someone was listening. 

After a moment, she gave up her search and went back into the train to find Henry or Benjamin to get an update. They still had a hell of a long day ahead of them.


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter Thirty-One,**

The train reached Medford at a little past one, steaming into the station. It sounded as if the locomotive sighed when it finally came to a stop, relieved to finally be at its latest destination. Macy and Henry escorted Liam from the train to the capable hands of Medford's sheriff. As promised, Macy told the sheriff Liam had provided helpful information and asked him to take that into consideration when doling out his sentence.

Raymond relished his new role as gatekeeper, pausing to ask every gentleman passenger to show that he was unarmed before allowing him to pass. The crew of the train grumbled a bit about Macy's takeover of their operation, but Henry assured everyone who brought it up that she was just trying to keep everyone onboard as safe as possible. When the train whistle blew again, Macy returned to the train. She kept her eyes moving, watching everyone who had gathered on the platform as she passed them.

She climbed onto the train as the porter shouted his final, " _All aboard!_ " and made her way back to the room where she'd left Sarah.

Sarah had curled up on the bench, her knees pulled up to her chest. "Hey," she said. "You asleep?"

"No," Sarah said.

Macy took the keys she'd gotten from Henry. "Sit up. I'll move you somewhere more comfortable."

She unlocked the handcuffs and stepped back, motioning at the bottom bunk. "You'll probably be more comfortable here."

Sarah lay down, and Macy attached one bracelet of the handcuffs to the bed frame. One of Sarah's hands was left free, and she reached up to stroke Macy's hair.

"Did Liam hurt you? When he hit you?"

"No. I'm fine," Macy said.

Sarah said, "I'm glad."

"If Henry comes back and I'm not here, make sure he knows I moved you. Say something as soon as the door opens so he won't see the empty bench and panic."

"Okay. Where will you be?"

"No one was waiting for us in Medford, so I gotta make sure no one is waiting for us on down the line. Liam told me Deacon has ten more men in this Gauntlet you told me about. We got eleven more stops. We could be in for some real rough riding for a while." She stroked Sarah's cheek and said, "I'll keep you safe."

"I know," Sarah said. "I love you."

Macy hesitated, her knee jerk reaction being to tell her not to say it. But, like the kissing, it felt so good to hear the words that she couldn't refuse them. "I think I love you, too. Whoever you are."

Sarah smiled. "I don't even know myself anymore. I think I'm who I was supposed to be. It was such a... trial. Every day. I was angry and quick to fight. I think I'm finally relaxing."

Macy nodded. "We'll be hitting Caldwell, Kansas in about an hour. I'll be back as soon as I can." 

She kissed Sarah before she stood up and left the car. She looked out the nearest window and watched as Oklahoma rolled away and was replaced at some arbitrary point by Kansas. After a month of avoiding Sarah, of doing everything in her power to avoid even the thought of the woman, she had her back. Out here on the plains, she could ignore the questions that had plagued her back in Roman. She was Anna, the woman behind her was Sarah, and everything else fell into place. 

Now there time was being measured in hours, in miles and lines of track. There wasn't enough time. She wasn't ready to have Sarah out of her life, despite praying for that very thing every night for the past month. 

"Sheriff," Henry said from behind her. She turned and he nodded a quick apology for interrupting her reverie. "Sorry. Sheriff from Medford wired ahead to the next three towns on our itinerary. They're gonna round up a posse and head out along the tracks to see if there's anyone lurking."

Macy raised her eyebrows. "He come up with that by himself?"

Henry shrugged. "No, I told him to. It just made sense. I mean, why sit here and wait to see. Might as well flush out the bad guys if they are there."

"Nice thinking, Henry. You might earn your supper yet."

He patted his stomach. "I can already taste it."

Macy smiled as he walked away, but it faded as she looked back out the window. It was going by too fast. Too damn fast. She pressed her palm against the glass as she followed Henry deeper into the train.

#

Over the next two hours, Macy and Henry patrolled the train. Benjamin provided the authority they needed to check everyone's tickets and question anyone they found suspicious; men traveling alone or groups of men, mainly. One man attempted to run and, when caught, admitted that he was wanted for stealing a horse in Texas. Macy took him into custody and dropped him off during their brief stop in Caldwell, Kansas. Everyone else took the situation in stride, some glad to hand over their credentials so they could tell their friends they'd been mistaken for outlaws.

When Macy checked on Sarah, she found that she'd fallen asleep. She resisted the urge to sit and watch her sleep, forcing herself back outside to watch the fields for signs of Deacon's men or his two alleged sharpshooters. She saw several men on horseback, but a closer inspection revealed they all wore tin stars on their chests; the local constables out beating the bushes for potential hijackers. Macy reminded herself to send ahead to all their destinations and ask for the same treatment. She felt immeasurably safer knowing they were out there.

Caldwell and Wellington, Kansas, were soon left behind them, and the train rolled on. They passed over rivers on wooden bridges that hardly seemed strong enough to stand let alone support the weight of a train. They passed through wooded sections of track with trees that shaded the windows and made it look like night for brief stretches of time.

They were ten miles outside of Wichita when they passed the gunfight. Henry called to her, and they met in the dining car to watch the scene unfold. Four men on horseback in the middle of a clearing, guns bursting with smoke every time someone fired. There was already a man on the ground, unmoving as horses stomped all around him. There was no doubt he was dead, and Macy prayed he was one of Deacon's men and not a local policeman.

Another man seemed to be the focus of everyone's attention, and he was firing indiscriminately at anyone who crossed his path. As Macy watched, his right shoulder jerked suddenly back and he slumped in his saddle. Another bullet darkened his shirt with a splash of red, and the reins slipped from his hands just as the train moved out of view.

"Lord A'mighty," Henry muttered.

"It was gonna be them or us," Macy said back, not sure if she believed it or not. She was just glad she hadn't been forced to pull the trigger.

When they reached Wichita, the local sheriff and his men had just returned from the shootout. One deputy had suffered a graze on his arm, but the deputies were otherwise unscathed. Two members of Deacon's gang were dead; the sheriff recognized one of them from the wanted poster that had been circulating for the past few months. He gave Macy the name, and she went back onto the train to find Sarah.

"Hey. Two members of Deacon's gang were killed by the Wichita sheriff and his men. You know Danny King?"

Sarah's eyes widened and she said, "Aw, no. Deacon, you son of a..." She sat up on the bunk and put her hand over her face. Macy sat next to her, unsure if the moment required a comforting touch. So she sat, hands clasped between her knees, and waited. Sarah finally spoke again. "Danny King was eighteen years old. And if there was someone with him, it was probably his cousin Leon. I never would have put Danny in this sort of shit. Never."

Macy put her hand on Sarah's thigh and squeezed.

"Except I did, didn't I?" Sarah said. "This is all my fault. If it wasn't for me, Danny would be back in Roman..."

"And if it weren't for the law makin' things illegal, I'd be out of a job. Don't do this to yourself, Sarah. It wasn't your fault. Deacon made the decision to send that boy out there, and Danny made the decision to go."

"How far is it to Leavenworth?"

Macy shook her head. "Dunno. Another two hundred miles, I think. Something like that."

"Too far to just leave the train and grab a horse, huh?"

Macy smiled. "We're almost halfway there. You'll have stone walls and armed guards to keep anyone from bothering you."

Sarah chuckled. "You make it sound wonderful. I should have looked at the brochure, gotten caught a long time ago."

Macy looked down at her hand and realized it had been resting on Sarah's knee for a long time. She withdrew it, folded her hands together, and said, "Sarah. I'm sorry it has to be me turning you in."

"I know. But it's what I want. You made me stop pretending to be someone I wasn't, and now I gotta pay for what I did. All the people I hurt. I have to make amends."

There was a sharp, sudden whistle to signal they were leaving Wichita. Macy said, "I should probably help Henry look over the new passengers."

"All right." Macy stood and went to the door. "Anna. When you get back to Roman, but before I'm just a bad memory to everyone... apologize. To the people who had to do without when I stole their payroll. Just tell 'em I'm sorry."

Macy ducked her chin and said, "I'll do that, Sarah. Sit tight. I'll come back and check on you soon."

#

Sarah lay back down when Macy was gone, her left hand hanging down beside the bed. The cuff was loose enough that she could barely feel it if she kept her arm still. It was just a slight weight around the heel of her hand, easy to ignore. The car was dark with the shade drawn, but it was still early enough in the afternoon that she could see her surroundings. _The last real bed I'll ever be in as a free woman,_ she thought. _Not that I'm exactly free._

She kept thinking in terms of "the last." It was her last afternoon, her last view of Oklahoma, her last... orgasm. She closed her eyes and relived that moment, sure that she would do the same many times in the future. Being thrown down, her clothes torn off her body. Then Macy's tongue, usually so gentle, forcing the climax from her. Like a goodbye kiss that set her entire body on fire. 

Sarah ran her free hand down her body and cupped herself between her legs as she remembered how it had felt, her hands restrained, her body quaking, unsure just how far Macy was going to take it. She wondered if her thighs had marks from Macy's fingertips and, if so, how long they would last. She wanted Macy to bruise her as a memento of their time together. She wanted a scar. 

She extended three fingers and rubbed the seam of her jeans against her sensitive flesh. She whimpered and bit her bottom lip, arching her back and lifting her hips off the bed. "Ahh, yes... yes..."

The door opened, and Sarah gasped in surprise.

"I brought--" Macy started, but the next word died in her throat. She was carrying a glass of water, frozen in the doorway as she took in the scene on the bottom bunk.

Sarah said, "Sorry. I..."

Macy shut the door and put down the water glass. "Hurry," she said. She leaned against the door, holding it shut with her shoulder as she undid the button of her jeans. Sarah watched her stick her hand down her jeans and began rubbing again, moving her hips in the rhythm of her fingers. Soon they were both groaning in the dim light, their lower bodies thrusting against unseen lovers.

Macy surrendered first, her lips parting in a silent groan as she closed her thighs around her captive hand. Sarah rocked her hips against her hand and then grimaced, baring her teeth as her legs shuddered and parted and then gave way. She sagged to the mattress and tried to catch her breath, pressing one hand against herself as the tremors died off and she could only hear the thud of her heartbeat and the ragged breathing from the doorway.

Finally, Macy moved. She cupped the back of Sarah's head and lifted it off the pillow. They kissed and, a moment later, Sarah realized that Macy had taken a drink from the water glass. Ice water poured into her mouth, almost choking her, but she managed to swallow it. They pulled apart when the water was gone, and Sarah saw Macy's lips shining.

Macy brushed a finger over Sarah's wet lips, and Sarah tasted Macy's juices on the tip. She sucked the finger into her mouth, then pulled Macy to her for another kiss.

"Give me something to remember," Sarah said when they pulled apart.

Macy kissed her again. "I'm going to do my best." 

Sarah let Macy guide her down to the mattress, whimpering in submission as Macy's body covered hers.


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter Thirty-two,**

Sarah undid the buttons of Macy's shirt as they kissed, a tricky prospect with only one good hand. Macy hadn't offered to undo the handcuffs, and Sarah wasn't going to ask. She wasn't going to do anything to risk ruining the moment. She pushed the shirt off Macy's shoulders and dropped her hand to the swell of Macy's breast. She cupped it through the undershirt, and Macy arched her back and moaned into the kiss, straddling Sarah's right leg and thrusting against her.

Macy sat up and tossed the shirt onto the floor. She undid the two buttons on the collar of her undershirt and then peeled that away and let it fall as well. Sarah sat up, her left hand trailing due to the cuff, and kissed Macy's stomach and cleavage. Macy's skin was warm, salty with dried sweat, and Sarah savored how it felt against her tongue. Macy undid the catches on her brassiere and let it fall aside, and Sarah pressed her lips to the inner curve of Macy's breast. 

It felt like they were making love for the first time and, in a way, she supposed they were. It was the first time she was with Macy as herself, with no lies or anger between them. She closed her eyes as Macy undid her shirt and pushed it away, shivering when Macy touched the bare skin of her shoulders. 

Macy pulled her up and they kissed again, and Macy slid her lips to Sarah's ear. "You're a schoolteacher," she whispered, struggling for breath. "Moving to a new town. I'm a sheriff who got relocated. We met on the train."

Sarah bent her knee, pressing her thigh between Macy's legs. They rocked against one another, Sarah's free hand in the small of Macy's back. Macy moved her hand down Sarah's chest to the waistband of her pants, but Sarah said, "Stop, no. You already did that once. Let me take care of you this time."

"How...?"

"Take your pants off."

Macy looked into Sarah's eyes and slid away from her. She quickly shed her boots and jeans before turning back to the bed. Sarah had moved down on the mattress and said, "Here... straddle my head..."

Macy crawled onto the bunk, planting her knees on the mattress above Sarah's shoulders. Her bare feet rested on Sarah's upper arms, and she rested her cheek against the cool wall at the head of the bunk. If she arched her back, she could feel the bottom of the top bunk pressing against her.

Sarah kissed the inside of Macy's thighs, stroking the tense muscles with her tongue. She breathed deep, focusing on how confined she felt. She was chained to the bed, her neck braced by Macy's lower body, and it felt... perfect. It felt safe. Macy put one hand on top of Sarah's head, putting the fingers of the other to her lips to silence any cries that might be drawn forth. Sarah wet her lips and then used the tip of her tongue part Macy's folds. 

For some reason, her mind filled with a ritual she witnessed on her single visit to church. It had been a Catholic ceremony, and her daddy was only there to find someone who owed him money. While they 'discussed' the debt outside, Sarah wandered in. She saw a big dish of water near the door, and people dipped their fingers inside and dabbed it on their forehead and shoulders before they went inside. She asked her father why, and he explained in his quick and stuttering way that they did it as a way to cleanse their souls of bad things.

Sarah brushed the thumb of her free hand against Macy, making her moan, and then touched the pad to her forehead. It was as close as she could get at the moment, much holier than some dish of water, and she said, "I'm sorry for what I done to you, Anna."

Macy's fingers curled in Sarah's hair and Sarah put her tongue to better use. Macy was already close, and Sarah's tongue quickly pushed her over the edge. Her cries were muffled by her fingers, her legs trembling on either side of Sarah's head and making the bunk tremble. Finally, she slid down Sarah's body, lining up their faces. She stroked Sarah's hair and kissed her lips, then ran her thumb over the spot of moisture on Sarah's forehead; her penance.

"I forgive you."

The words, completely unexpected, hit Sarah in the center of the chest. She closed her eyes, and Macy kissed her cheeks.

"If I could make it up to you, I would," Sarah whispered.

"It's in the past now," Macy said. 

Sarah opened her eyes and said, "Too bad we ain't got a future."

Macy lowered her head and rested it on Sarah's shoulder. "Might as well take what we can get from the present."

Sarah kissed Macy's forehead and embraced her with one arm, looking past Macy at the window. The shade was still drawn, restricting her view to a single strip of rapidly moving ground. She couldn't help but think it would be easier to enjoy the present if it wasn't so quick to end.

#

Eventually Macy realized that Henry could return at any moment. She'd thrown the latch, but she would rather not explain why she was locked in the room with their prisoner. She reluctantly left Sarah's embrace and put her clothes back on, smoothing down her hair and tightening the braid. She picked up her hat and turned to look down at Sarah. She smiled.

"What?" Sarah said.

"I don't even know." She reached down and adjusted the collar of Sarah's blouse. "I'll be back, soon as I can."

Sarah nodded and Macy put on her hat as she left the room. She walked to the end of the car, and had just opened the door to the next compartment as Henry was about to come through. He blinked in surprise and said, "There you are. I've been trying to find you for half an hour."

"Sorry," Macy said as she led him back into the other train. "Anything wrong?"

"No, but I wanted to give you an update. We're still two miles out from Peabody, but the engineer seems to think we'll get there on time. Passengers who've stayed on with the train are well aware there's something goin' on. They're keeping their eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. They'll let us know if they see anything."

Macy said, "Good. Benjamin?"

Henry smirked. "I think this is the most excitement ol' Ben's had in a long time. He was a little shaky at first but he's getting his feet under him. How's the prisoner?"

"Holding up," Macy said, keeping her tone neutral. She kept her eyes on the window, watching for signs of pursuit. The fields were clear as far as she could see, but that didn't mean the danger had passed. There were still eight men unaccounted for, including the sharpshooters from Wyoming Sarah had told her about. "What did you do with the shotgun Benjamin gave us?"

"Got a former soldier in the caboose," Henry said. "I left the gun with him in case he needed to pick off anyone trying to board."

"Sounds like we got it all set up. Have we sent wires to the other stops between here and Leavenworth?"

Henry nodded. "Got a nice little relay. Notices sent to the rest of the stops to be on the lookout for men with guns, or suspicious men lingering at the train station a little too long." He pulled out his pocket watch. "We got about two hundred miles left 'fore we can really relax. We should hit Leavenworth tomorrow morning at eight-thirty if we don't have any more delays."

Macy knocked on a wooden table as they passed it. "Anyone giving you any trouble about checking their bags?"

"Nope. Most of 'em seem excited about the idea. Come to Indian Territory, see a real life gunslinger."

Macy rolled her eyes. "Indian Territory. We're in Oklahoma Territory last I checked."

"People don't much care about the difference, boss," he said. 

When they got to the last train, the former soldier made himself known by standing and snapping off a salute. He was a head taller than Macy, and a few inches wider. He wore a mustache that curled around his mouth and met his sideburns, the dark gray hair bristling when he spoke. "Well, hell," he said. "Your deputy told me that he worked for a woman, but I wanted to see it for myself. Captain Pierce Allan, ma'am. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"And yours, Captain," she said. "You mind takin' orders from a woman?"

He smiled behind his mustache. "Worked in a Red Cross operation for most of the war. Got ordered around from sun-up to sunset by the woman in charge there. Plus I'm married. If I ain't used to it by now, I might as well just pack up."

Macy returned his smile. "I'll let you know if we need you for anything more than guard duty. You see anything, anything a'tall, you send someone to come and find me."

"Yes, ma'am," Pierce said.

Macy snapped off a salute of her own and turned to walk back down the length of the train. "We're gonna patrol. Chance someone might've snuck a gun aboard while we weren't paying attention."

"Oh, near forgot. We have a couple of fellas with knives," Henry said. "They seemed honest enough, hunters and the like. I let 'em on, but the knives were put into Benjamin's care until they get to their destinations."

"Hunting knives?"

Henry nodded. "Nothing I ain't seen on every train ride I've ever taken. But still, better safe than sorry."

"Yeah," Macy said. "You happen to know which men the knives got taken from?"

"Benjamin kept track of them so they could be given back afterward. You'll be wantin' to talk to them, I'm sure. I got their ticket numbers and the cars they're in." He handed her a slip of paper. 

"Great minds, Henry, I knew I could count on you. Okay. I'll talk to these fine upstanding gentlemen. You go make sure no one bothers our prisoner. I'll come and take a shift in a few hours."

"Thought you wanted me to take the majority of the guarding shifts."

Macy cleared her throat. "Change of heart. Elisabeth might string me up if she found out I put you in a room with another woman overnight."

Henry smirked. "She might at that."

"Trust me, I know how women think. Most of 'em, anyway."

They parted ways; Henry went toward the car where Macy had left Sarah, and Macy went back to the passenger car. "Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen. I just need your attention for a moment. If Misters Barney North, Matthew Curtis, Samuel Evans, and Harrison O'Grady would please raise their hands." The knife owners raised their hands, and Macy waved them forward. 

The first one to reach her was O'Grady, and he nervously rubbed his palms together as she directed him to have a seat on the bench facing her. 

"Heard you were having a bit of trouble on the train," he said.

"Just a touch," she said. "Wanted to be sure everyone here is on the up and up. Where'd you come onboard, Mr. O'Grady?"

#

Three of the four knife-owners were ranchers, and the other was a father of three who was working on puppets for his daughters. He showed Macy the half-finished projects and she promised to get his knife back early so he could continue carving them during his ride back to Philadelphia. With the four men cleared, Macy did another walk through the passenger cars. Most people looked anxious, but that was to be expected given the circumstances. They were still a few miles from Peabody, but she could see it coming on the horizon when she leaned her head out the window.

Another town, another station, and another opportunity for Deacon and his men to ambush the train. She wanted the ride to be over, wanted to move on. But the end of the ride meant the end of her time with Sarah. Making love to her had been wrong, but she would have regretted missing the opportunity. 

The entire time she was with Sarah, she'd imagined different scenarios. Sarah was a teacher, Sarah was a new deputy learning the ropes, Sarah was a traveling doctor. In every scenario, one thing remained the same. Sarah was the person she loved, regardless of gender. 

Whether Sarah was a teacher, an officer, a doctor or a thief, she was the person Macy belonged with. And unless Macy committed a crime in the next fourteen hours, they were never going to see each other again.

She guessed she would just have to start bracing herself for the moment they had to part ways. The longer she waited, the more it would hurt. The train whistle blew as they pulled into the Peabody, Kansas, train station. 

One more stop out of the way before the end of the road.


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter Thirty-Three,**

They arrived at Marion, Kansas at a little past eight in the evening, and the setting sun had drawn a curtain over the sky in shades of purple, pink and orange. Long shadows stretched through the train cars as porters came through to draw curtains and light lanterns. Several passengers, either inured to the danger or forgetting it for the moment, stretched out in their seats or in the sleeping car on either side of Sarah's current home. 

Macy brought Sarah dinner after the shift change. A lantern over the bunks provided weak light, and they ate in silence sitting next to each other on the bunk. Sarah poked at her meatloaf and stirred her fork through her mashed potatoes.

"What's the matter?" Macy said quietly, sure she already knew the answer. "Don't like this fine train cuisine?"

Sarah said, "It's not that. The food's fine compared to what I've had to make do with sometimes. I'm just not very hungry."

"We'll get to Leavenworth tomorrow," Macy said. "It'll be fine then."

"You don't get it," Sarah said. "If Deacon doesn't get me on the train, he'll just move on to another plan. He'll get someone into the prison and he'll take care of me there."

Macy said, "Kill you in prison? No, there are guards and--"

"He'll find someone. Either someone who doesn't care, or he'll just wait for one of his men to get pinched and tell them to do the job once they're locked up. So it doesn't matter if I survive the train ride. I'm dead one way or another."

Macy put her fork down and looked at her plate, her own appetite fleeing with the realization that Sarah was right.

"I'll kill him first."

"Anna..."

"I'm serious. The man has tried to kill me a handful of times already. He led the raid on the jail. Maimed my deputy. He's got it coming. I'll find him and put a bullet in his head."

Sarah said, "You'll be a murderer."

"It'll be justice," Macy said. "It's bad enough I'm losing you, I won't let him take you away completely."

Sarah put her plate aside and turned to face her. "Don't, Anna."

"I'm supposed to just let you die?"

"If that's what it takes." Sarah put her free hand on the back of Macy's neck and squeezed, and Macy closed her eyes. Sarah leaned in and kissed Macy's cheek, her earlobe, and her throat. Macy put her food down as well and turned to wrap Sarah in a tight embrace.

"Would you do it, Anna?"

"I would," Macy whispered. "I'd kill the bastard first chance I got."

Sarah leaned back. "No, I meant... when Deacon catches up to me, or when one of the people following him catches up to me, they'll kill me. They'll make sure I suffer. So I want... you to do it first."

Macy pulled away from Sarah's embrace. "You're out of your goddamn mind."

"Tell them I tried to escape. Tell them... hell, I don't know. Say whatever you want. Tell them I tried to grab your gun and you didn't have no choice. I'd rather die with you than--"

Macy stood up and crossed the small space, getting as far from Sarah as possible. "Stop talking. Just stop talking right now."

Sarah lowered her head. "I've had a lot of time to think. I'm gonna die, Anna. Probably soon. And the only way I can make peace with that is if it happens in your arms. Just pinch my nose and cover my mouth with your other hand. Hold me down. At least I'd go off into the afterlife smellin' you. Feeling you on top of me."

Macy's voice was rough. "I am not gonna kill you, so just stop talking right now, Sarah Lucas. Just shut the hell up."

Sarah reached down and toyed with the bracelet of her handcuff, making the other clink against the bed frame. Macy stood next to the window and pushed the shade away, staring up at the night sky. The ground and sky seemed to blend together, the horizon a blurry spot in the distance. Now and then they passed small towns, homesteads lit up like oases in the desert, and it made Macy homesick. 

She wanted to ride Harlequin, she wanted to stroll down to the Valley Bar and sit with Eleanor. Even though Eleanor didn't make her feel half what she felt with Sarah, it was simple. Of course if it ever got out that the town sheriff was paying a whore for sex... She let the curtain fall and muttered, "It ain't ever going to be easy. Goddamn it."

Sarah picked up her plate again and poked listlessly at her food. Macy watched her for a second and then pushed away from the wall.

"Put that down."

"Sorry. I just--"

Macy took the plate from her and placed it on the bunk. She took the handcuff keys from her pocket and knelt down next to Sarah's thigh. Sarah watched speechlessly as Macy undid the cuff from the bed frame, took Sarah's other hand, and snapped the bracelet around the wrist.

"What are you doin'?"

"Come with me," Macy said. She stood and helped Sarah to her feet. She opened the door to their car and looked both ways before she led Sarah into the corridor.

Sarah lowered her voice and said, "Anna, whatever you're thinking of doing..."

"Shut up and follow me," Macy said. She passed Benjamin in the dining car, and his eyes widened when he spotted the women in handcuffs. "Relax, Ben. It's okay."

"I didn't even know it was a woman prisoner," he said. "I guess I just... I pictured..."

"It's okay," Macy said again. "If you see Deputy Rucker before I do, let him know I took the prisoner for a walk."

Benjamin nodded as Macy continued toward the back of the train. Captain Pierce Allan was still standing guard in the caboose, and he rose to his feet as Macy approached.

"Everything all right, ma'am?"

"Just fine, Captain. We're just taking a little fresh air. The prisoner's been cooped up for over twelve hours, figured she could stretch her legs a little bit."

Pierce nodded and stepped aside to let them pass. Macy opened the rear door of the car and ushered Sarah out into the darkness.

The wind wasn't as ferocious as earlier, as the train seemed to have slowed, but the night was chilly. Sarah lifted her hands, pressing them against her chest since she couldn't hug herself. Macy went to the railing and said, "If you try to kill yourself by jumpin' off the train, I'll hand you over to Deacon myself."

"Don't worry. I'm too big a coward to try and do myself in." She put her hands on the railing next to Macy's elbows and looked down the track the way they had come. "Not that I'm ungrateful, but why'd you bring me out here?"

Macy pointed into the sky. "They look a little different than they do from Roman, but if I'm making up the names anyway..."

Sarah looked up and smiled. 

"See those five? There's three, and then two up above 'em? That's a boat with sails fully extended."

"I see it," Sarah said. She pointed. "Three stars there. They look like a V? And then there's a line of other stars? Looks kind of like a knife."

"Kind of violent."

"Kind of life I've had. Thank you for bringing me out here."

Macy nodded and looked at Sarah. In the moonlight, her skin looked like marble. Her hair was almost blue. "I figured it might be your last chance to see the night sky without bars getting in the way."

"I wouldn't have cared except for that night with you in the field. Now I'll think of you whenever I look up."

Macy licked her lips and said, "I won't kill you, Sarah. But I'll do everything in my power to keep you safe."

"I appreciate that," Sarah said. "But I don't think--"

The window behind them shattered. Moments later, the sound of the gunshot echoed over the plains, and both women dropped to the meager cover provided by the railing.

"You were saying?" Macy growled. She grabbed Sarah by the shoulders and shoved her roughly through the door and back into the train car. "Captain! Return fire at-- oh, fuck." Sarah followed Macy's line of sight and saw the tall man with the shotgun lying across the last seat. His chest was bright red, fresh blood glistening on his bottom lip and dotting his mustache. Macy abandoned Sarah and went to the man.

"Sorry, sh'rff," he managed. "Guess they saw me 'soon as I saw them. Couldn't get a shot off fast enough."

"How many of 'em?"

"Three. On horseback. Comin' from th' northeast."

Macy lifted her head and saw the man with the wispy mustache, his name escaping her at the moment. She waved him over and said, "Keep pressure on that wound, hear me? You happen to know if we got a--" She saw Benjamin enter the train car and said, "Ben, over here!"

"Oh, oh my God!" His face drained at the sight of the blood. 

"No, you don't," Macy said. She got to her feet and grabbed him before he could faint. She slapped him hard and his eyes seemed to focus. "Do you have a doctor on this train? A nurse? Any kind of medical--"

"Doctor," he said. "Got aboard back in Wellington."

"Get him and tell him he's needed back here." Benjamin was trembling so hard that she wasn't sure if he nodded or just followed the instructions, but soon he was gone. "Keep pressure on that wound, sir," she said. She finally drew her weapon and moved to the back of the car at a crouch. She peered over the bottom corner of the broken window and saw the three men on horseback closing in.

Henry rushed into the car, gun drawn. His eyes immediately locked on Sarah, and he swung his gun around to her.

"Henry, no!" 

"Sheriff?"

Macy said, "Back here, Henry." He eyed Sarah warily, but continued forward. He crouched next to Macy. "Three of 'em. They took out Captain Allan."

"Why's the prisoner out of her room?"

"Fresh air," Macy said. "Not important at the moment. Can you get a bead on 'em?"

Henry lifted his head and squinted, then dropped his back to the wall. "Movin' targets, at night? Anna, I'm sorry, I really am..."

"It's all right," Macy said. "I'm questioning my own abilities at the moment." She looked around the train car and saw the remaining passengers crouching behind their seats. "Everyone move to the next car! Stay down, tell everyone to keep their heads below window level, y'hear me? Go, now!"

Sarah got to her feet and Macy said, "Sarah!"

"I'm not runnin'!" Sarah said. She stopped at the lanterns, lifting the glass cover to extinguish the flame. The light immediately dimmed, and Macy realized Sarah was evening the score. There was no reason to give their enemies a lit target to aim at. The car quickly fell into shadows, and Sarah moved back to where Macy and Henry were kneeling.

"Henry, get to the engineer. Ask him to put on as much speed as he can. If we can get out of range, they won't be our problem any more."

"What about you? You can't shoot 'em all on your own."

"Give me your gun." Henry hesitated, but he handed it over. "Go on now. We need that burst of speed from the engine."

Henry glanced at Sarah before he complied. Macy checked to make sure his gun was loaded before she placed it on the floor next to her.

"Anna, you can't fight 'em all on your own."

"I'm not gonna." She fumbled with something and grabbed the chain of Sarah's handcuffs. She unfastened them before Sarah could argue and dropped the cuffs on the ground. Before Sarah could even process her freedom, Henry's gun was pressed into her hand. "You'n me. I can trust you to fight for your life, right?"

Sarah stared at the gun in disbelief.

"I know you can shoot, but _will_ you? Answer me now."

"I'll fight to protect _you_ ," Sarah said.

Macy shrugged. "Good enough."

She threw open the door and used it as cover as she leaned out. The riders were nearly to the back of the train, one of them holstering his gun to make a grab for the railing on the last caboose's platform. Macy cursed and said, "Cover me."

"Anna!"

Macy stepped out onto the platform and leveled her gun at the man. He dropped his hand to the butt of his gun, and Macy fired twice more. The man recoiled and the horse fell back, retreating to a safe distance. Macy pressed her back against the wall and looked at the cylinder of her gun. Two bullets left, three gunmen. She said, "Sarah, I need you to cover me."

Sarah appeared in the darkness and opened fire. She hit the nearest man, the one who had almost gotten aboard, and he slumped forward in his saddle. The other two split around him, only one of them looking back to check their fellow's condition. Macy decided she didn't have the luxury of playing safe and aimed at the nearest one's chest. She fired, and the man went down.

"Macy," Henry called from the darkness. "There's more than three!"

"What?"

She heard Henry rush forward and kneel next to Sarah at the door. "There's more than three," Henry said, panting from his run through the train. "Two more are ridin' up near the engine tryin' to get the train to stop." He held out a box of ammunition. "Brought you some more ammo, too."

"Thanks, Henry. Sarah..."

Henry suddenly barked, "What the hell is she doin' with a weapon, Anna?"

"I needed someone who could shoot," Macy said. She grabbed a few bullets, not bothering to look as she loaded her gun again. "She took down one, I got another. You mean there's two more up ahead?"

"Yeah," Henry said, still upset about the prisoner being armed with his weapon. 

"Get the shotgun from Cap'n Allan," Macy said. The train suddenly picked up speed and Macy had to fight to keep balance in her crouched position. "We'll--"

It felt like a bird had swooped out of the sky, something dark like a raven, and caught hold of her right shoulder. Macy was thrown forward, slamming facedown onto the platform with enough force to knock the wind from her. Her gun slid from her hand and she grabbed for it, the tightness and throbbing pain from her shoulder impeding her abilities. She reached, and the train picked up more speed, and she slid toward the edge.

Sarah shouted her name, and Macy suddenly realized that her shirt was wet with blood. She grabbed her gun and tried to roll over, but the movement of the train turned it into a suicide spin. She groped for the railing as she fell, snatching the iron too late to do any good. She hung in midair momentarily before the force of gravity was too much, the speed of the train pulling the rail from her fingers. Macy caught a fleeting glimpse of Henry and Sarah's faces, framed by the open door of the train car, as she fell into oblivion.


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter Thirty-Four,**

Sarah didn't take the time to think. She tucked the gun into her belt, ran onto the platform, and hurled herself into the darkness. Her mind rebelled at the weightlessness caused by leaping from the train, the odd balance that felt like flight as the speed of the train gave way to the pull of gravity. She hit the ground hard and tucked her arms in, hunching her shoulders to make her body as cylindrical as possible. She bounced, throwing up a choking cloud of dust that enveloped her as she rolled, parts of her body protesting with each impact; her shoulder to her hip to her side to her head. 

When she finally came to rest, she knew she couldn't take the luxury to regain her bearings. She rolled facedown on the ground and scrambled up onto her hands and knees, kicking up dirt as she tried to find where Macy had gone off the train. "Anna! Anna, talk to me!"

She heard a loud whistle and turned to see that the deputy was right; three horsemen were buzzing around the train like gnats around a garbage dump. The last surviving man at the rear of the train had seen Sarah jump and signaled to the others that she was off the train. She yanked the gun free of her belt and ran along the tracks. "Anna! Goddamn you, answer me..."

Sarah finally saw her, lying about a hundred yards away. Sarah ran to her, horrified at how motionless she was. She had almost reached the sheriff's still body when the first shot rang out. Sarah dove to the ground, covering Macy's body with her own in a futile attempt to protect her from the bullets.

"Should've stayed on the train, Lucas," one of the men called out. Sarah recognized the voice and looked over her shoulder as the men rode up. "Cole Turner. Holdin' a gun on Daniel Lucas' little girl? What would your daddy say?"

"Well, what would yours say, Sarah? Fuck's sake, look at you. Cowerin' in the dirt trying to find a gun to fight back. I saw the sheriff drop her gun. If you were trying to arm yourself... you're out of luck." He stopped a few yards from her while the other two caught up. He smiled and said, "Always knew Deacon would make a better leader. Now, you got anything to say before we officially change leaders?"

"Yeah," Sarah said. She shot him between the eyes without raising the gun from her hip. "I got my own gun, you son of a bitch."

The other two men opened fire, and Sarah got to her feet. She ran to the west, away from the tracks and drawing them away from Macy's body. One of the horsemen ran ahead of her to cut off her escape, and she fired at him. Her first shot missed, but the second caught him in the abdomen. He cried out in pain, dropping his gun and hunching his shoulders forward as he clutched the wound.

Sarah spun on her heel to take out the other gunman, but her finger froze on the trigger. She would recognize those wide doe eyes anywhere. "Dalton Crowe," she said. "The fuck are you doing here, boy?"

"Doing what I'm told," he said. He had the gun centered on her head, but apparently he couldn't pull the trigger any more than Sarah could.

She lowered her gun. "I sat with you when your momma died. I held your hand. And now you're gonna shoot me 'cause Bill Deacon told you to? That the kind of man you grew up to be?"

Dalton's gun wavered. "I just... Deacon said it had to be this way, Sarah. I ain't happy about it, but it gotta be done."

"No, it doesn't," Sarah said. She dropped her gun on the ground. "I ain't gotta kill you."

"Pick your gun up, Sarah."

"Uh-uh. You the sort of man that can shoot an unarmed woman, you go right ahead." She walked past him, moving quicker with every step. It was hard to see Macy in the dark, but she could tell that the sheriff hadn't moved an inch during the entire fight. She ran, fully expecting a gunshot to fill the air and be the last thing she heard. Instead, she heard boots hitting ground. She didn't care if Dalton caught up and beat her to death with the gun; she had to be with Macy.

"Anna," she said, hitting her knees. The back of Macy's shirt was sticky with blood. Sarah pulled Macy onto her lap and rolled her over. The bullet had gone clean through the shoulder, and blood covered the front of her shirt. It had pooled on the ground underneath her as well, and Sarah wondered how much blood could possibly still be inside of her. The right side of Macy's face was scraped raw, and the flesh near her scalp was torn and glistening.

Dalton suddenly appeared beside Macy and Sarah recoiled. "Don't you dare touch her," Sarah snapped.

"I just..." Dalton had pulled off his mask and wiped his sleeve across his lips. "Tell me what to do, ma'am."

"Give me that neckerchief," she said. She grabbed it and pressed it to the wound on Macy's head. "Hold that there. Try and... and stop the bleeding."

She looked down the tracks and saw the train was disappearing, the smoke billowing from the engine looking strangely white in the darkness. She assumed they would have already stopped, if they were going to. She swallowed hard and focused on the bullet wound in Macy's chest. "God Almighty," she muttered. 

"Sarah, I think she might--"

"Shut up," she said. "Stop that bleedin', and then help me make a bandage for this wound."

Dalton hesitated, but then he nodded. Sarah unbuttoned Macy's shirt and manhandled her limp body to get it off, leaving Macy in her undershirt. The thought of their interlude in the train car passed through her mind, but she shoved it away. She had to focus. 

#

The sky was brighter than it should have been, and she was freezing. Someone was humming, and she almost fell back to sleep listening to it. But there was something wrong, something she had to do. She started to sit up, wondering why she'd fallen asleep outside, but then a hand came down on her shoulder and gently kept her down. "Hey, don't..."

Sarah Lamb. She relaxed against her pillow, now obviously Sarah's thigh. Her forehead was clammy, and she wondered why she had sweated if the night was so damn cold. 

"Anna?"

"Think I hit m' head," Macy said.

"Among other things."

Macy reached up and touched her shoulder. There was a thick pack of cloth there, held in place by thick wrappings of tape. She whimpered.

"You lost a lot of blood, Anna. You just need to rest."

Macy relaxed. "Sarah."

"Mm-hmm?"

"I dreamt that you were a criminal. And I had to 'rrest you."

Sarah stroked Macy's head. Her hair was wet. "Did you now. What a funny dream."

Macy opened her eyes. "I'm hurt bad."

"I know."

"How'd I get hurt?"

Sarah bent down and kissed Macy's forehead. "You were savin' me. Bein' a hero."

"Oh," Macy said. "I can live with that. Dyin' for that."

"Don't you dare," Sarah said.

Macy licked her lips and said, "Was there a man here?"

"He left. He rode ahead, trying to catch up with the train again."

"Good. I like bein' alone with you."

Sarah continued to stroke Macy's hair. 

"Love you, Sarah."

Sarah started to cry. "I love you, too, Anna."

Macy tilted her head, watching as the sky continued to brighten. "I can't see the stars anymore. Wanted to name a couple more for you."

"There's still some. What's that one called?" She pointed to a star just visible over the line of trees to the south.

"Sarah..."

Sarah laughed. "I like that name. Tell me some more."

Macy scanned the sky for another star, but she was asleep again before she could find another.

#

Henry was fuming. He'd watched in stupid inaction while the prison leapt from the train, still in shock from Sheriff Macy's blood splattering the window just before she disappeared from sight. He'd tried to summon the courage to leap after them, but the ground was moving way too fast for him. Finally he'd turned tail and ran, tearing through the train like the devil was after him, racing back to the locomotive to tell the engineer they had to stop. The damn fool refused, ignoring the fact they'd lost the prisoner and the sheriff. He said there was no way he would stop his train in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, while bandits were riding on them.

Henry had no choice but to wait until they reached White City, nearly two hours later, before he could do anything. As soon as they arrived, he'd pulled the sheriff from his bed and rounded up a posse. They rode out immediately, Henry already sure they'd only find a pair of dead bodies waiting for them.

He wasn't sure where, exactly, Macy and Sarah had fallen from the train. He gave it his best guess, following the train tracks and watching for landmarks that seemed familiar. An hour into the ride, they found a man coming toward them. Guns were drawn, and the man raised both his hands in a quick surrender, swearing that he had been coming to White City for help. He identified himself as Dalton Crowe, a member of Deacon's gang, and Henry took the man into custody before letting him lead the way back to where he'd left Sheriff Macy.

It was past midnight when the group spotted the fire. Henry spurred Daedalus on, his heart pounding when he saw there was only one person sitting by the fire. 

The person was leaning against a tree, staring into the flames. Henry said, "Sheriff? Anna Macy, that you?"

There was no response until he reached the fire. He still had the shotgun from the train, his own gun having gone over the side with Sarah Lucas. He lifted it as he dismounted, holding the butt with his right hand while he balanced the barrel on his left palm. The woman under the tree had her hat down, covering her face, and Henry said, "Lift up your hat."

Macy pulled her hat off and dropped it on the ground beside her. Her face was streaked with tears.

Henry relaxed, and his entire body seemed to sag when he saw her. "God's sake, Macy. Are you all right?"

"No," she said. Her voice was rough.

Henry looked around the fire, squinting to see into the darkness.

"Where's Sarah Lucas?"

"Dead."

Henry looked Macy over. She was wearing a fresh shirt, unbuttoned to reveal her blood-soaked undershirt. He couldn't rightly remember, but he was almost sure it was the same shirt Sarah Lucas had been wearing on the train. 

"How'd she get dead?"

"After she... patched me up, some men rode on us. I was barely even conscious, but I saw her countin' bullets. She didn't have enough. We wouldn't have made it. So I did something she asked me to do when we were on the train. I shot her. Let Deacon and his boys take her body to bury it with her daddy. Figured she deserved that much. They rode out... I don't know. Half an hour ago."

Henry looked at the ground. Even in the darkness, he saw several pools of blood as thick and dark as oil. 

"Help me," she said.

One of the men Henry recruited in White City had brought a wagon. Henry put down the shotgun and helped Macy to her feet. She cried out in pain, and he apologized quietly as he supported her, walking her away from the fire.

"We'll get you up on the wagon, then we'll head out after Deacon and his boys. We'll get 'em, Anna."

"No," Macy said. "They just wanted Sarah. They got her. Deacon's headin' up to Wyoming now." She whimpered again as she was loaded onto the wagon, clutching her shoulder as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. "Get me back to the train... let's just go home. This is done."


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter Thirty-Five,**

Macy hissed, and Doc Merritt said, "Sorry." There was no joke about sucking it up, toughing it out, or any of the usual banter that came with one of his examinations. No one had attempted to joke with Macy since she came back from the aborted trip to Kansas. She had haunted the streets of Roman like a ghost, taking long rides with Harlequin. Henry once said he'd seen her sitting on the banks of the stream by her house, just watching the water roll by. He'd waited for her to head back to the house so he could talk to her, but after an hour he'd finally left.

Doc applied a fresh bandage to her wound and stepped back. "Healing nicely. There's going to be a scar, no doubt about that. Kansas doctor really did a mess of a job trying to patch you up."

"He was a vet," Macy said. "Only one awake at that hour. He did the best he could."

"I'll bet he did." Macy slipped off the table and picked up her shirt. "Anna, if you have a minute..."

"I really don't, Doc."

"Well, then make one, damn it." She turned to face him as she put her shirt on. "I realize there's been a hell of a lot going on around here lately. Henry's hand, and your wound, and... losing the prisoner the way you did. But it's time to move on. Your life is like a book. You can't turn the page and read the rest of the story. You're just drifting. You need to move on."

Macy said, "Done with the speech, Doc?"

He sighed and moved to the sink basin to wash his hands. "Yeah. I suppose I am, if you ain't gonna listen."

She put her hat on as she stepped through the door. "Got something to do. I might not be back for the next check-up, but I'll come see you as soon as I'm back."

He didn't turn to look at her, just nodded and kept washing his hands. 

Macy closed the door behind her.

#

The camp felt empty. The people that had been killed or taken into custody had severely diminished their numbers, and half the remaining gang members were already on their way to Wyoming with the Carson brothers. There were a few loose ends for Deacon to take care of back in Roman, however, and he rode into the camp a few weeks after returning from Kansas. He left his horse in front of the house he'd always called his and looked at the place with the eyes of someone who had been gone for a very long time.

Two trees crowded the house on either side, the sagging branches hanging down over the roof like a veil. Weeds surrounded the front lawn like a skirt, reaching high enough to be seen through the window of the living room. Deacon remembered the promise the Carsons had given him; a true cabin, a home that he could proudly call his. That was something Daniel Lucas and his fucking daughter had never been able to give him. He sighed as he stepped onto the sagging porch, pushing through the front door and into the dark house.

He unfastened his gun belt and dropped it onto the table out of habit. His beard had grown long and scratchy while he was gone, sitting up in Kansas waiting for Sarah and the sheriff to show up on the train. It had taken three days to learn that Sarah was apparently dead. The sheriff's story didn't make much sense, however, since she claimed he'd ridden off with her body. If such a thing had happened, he didn't recall it. The sheriff was back in town, so he would have a nice long conversation with her to find out what really happened.

He went into the bedroom, pushing the door so that it hit the wall. He caught movement from the corner of his eye and dropped his hand to his hip. His fingers closed around air as the first bullet hit him in the chest and he was knocked back against the door. 

Anna Macy fired again, and Deacon's body jerked. He slid to the floor, his hand resting against one of the wounds on his chest as he tried to make sense of what was happening.

Macy lowered her weapon and stood in front of him. He looked up at her, narrowing his eyes as he tried to make sense of what she'd done. He thought of the people he'd seen outside, the few people milling around and packing their things before moving on to Wyoming. How had she gotten past them? How had she even known which house was his? How could this be happening?

"Sarah says hi."

"Kill... me..."

"Before you could kill me," Macy said. "Before you could kill her. 'Sides. I'm not a sheriff right now. I'm the woman who loves the woman you tried to kill."

Deacon coughed and the pain shot through his torso. 

"You want me to finish you off?"

He squeezed his eyes shut and nodded.

Macy tucked the gun back into her holster and said, "Good."

It took all his strength, and the entire time it took Macy to reach the front of the house before he could speak. "Lucas... whe... where's Sar... ah Lucas?"

Macy didn't stop walking. "She's as dead as you are."

The door slammed shut behind her, and Deacon shuddered. There was a light in the corner of the room, near the ceiling, and he stared at it, watching it as it slowly grew brighter. He was still trying to figure out what it was when the light enveloped him, and he stopped hurting.

#

A month after the train ride, Macy walked into Mayor Dawson's office and laid her badge on his desk. He frowned at her, but she just shook her head. "I'm sorry. I can't. I've tried, but the things I've done... I can't honestly wear that badge anymore without hating myself. I don't want to leave you in the lurch, walk away without a replacement to take over for me. I got a suggestion to that end, if you don't mind."

#

Elisabeth Rucker stood to the side, trying not to show emotion as her husband ran his thumb over the etching in the gold. "You can more'n carry your weight, Henry. And with that bum hand of yours, it'll be nice to let someone else do the heavy lifting for a while. Kirby's a good man, but he can be even better given some guidance. You'll make him into someone you're proud to call your deputy. I know it. And I know you're ready to take over for me."

"Wish I had your confidence, Anna."

"I knew you were ready the second I took the job. I was always grateful you let me take over for my Daddy, but the time has come. It's your time. It's your town."

Henry finally brought his hands up and hooked the badge on the lapel of his vest. He made sure it was hanging right, then extended his left hand to her. Macy took it in hers and squeezed. "It's your town, Anna. I'll take good care of it until you're ready to come back."

She smiled and put her hat back on as she stepped out onto the porch. "Don't hold your breath, Henry. It's time I put this town behind me and moved on with my book."

"Your what?"

"Nothing." She touched the brim of her hat to Elisabeth, who waved as she joined her husband at the doorway. Macy climbed onto Harlequin to the sound of Elisabeth's happy tears, the sound of her telling Henry she knew he would make it. Macy smiled. Sheriff Rucker kind of had a good ring to it.

#

They had the entire room between them, but Macy could have shared the bed with Eleanor without feeling an urge to go farther. "I want to thank you before I go. For everything you did for me."

Eleanor smiled at Macy. She was sitting at her vanity, combing her hair and watching Macy's reflection in the mirror. "You did a lot for me, too. Can't exactly advertise what you and I shared. You sure you have to go?"

"Yeah," Macy said. "I have to put this town behind me as soon as possible. Too many memories. Too many... expectations from the past."

Eleanor nodded. "Well, if you ever want to come back for a visit, I hope you keep me in mind. I'll miss you, Anna."

"And I'll miss you, Eleanor."

Eleanor turned away from the mirror. "Could I just ask you one favor?"

Macy nodded.

"Could you put your hat on and kind of swagger when you leave?"

Macy laughed. She put her hat on and drawled, "It's been a pleasure, ma'am." She opened the door and swaggered out onto the landing. She could still hear Eleanor's throaty chuckle as she headed down the stairs.

#

The town of Audrey wasn't far from Roman, only an hour or two by train. Macy refused to ride a train, due to the bad experience of falling off the last one she'd ridden. She rode Harlequin instead, a leisurely ride along the stream. She'd borrowed a wagon from Henry, and everything she cared about in the world was being towed behind Harlequin. When she arrived at Audrey, she didn't go straight to her new home in the center of town and instead rode to the sprawling green park that had first attracted her to the town.

As she approached, she saw a woman sitting under a tree with a book open against her thighs. Macy smiled.

_"What will happen when they get here?" Sarah asked._

_"We'll ride back to the train, or get a different train most likely. Head on to Leavenworth." She was still woozy, lightheaded from the loss of blood. She touched her forehead and winced when she touched the wound there._

_"And then we'll do this whole mess over again," Sarah said._

_Macy looked at her and said, "Or not."_

_Sarah said, "No."_

_"Sarah... we're both trapped. And the only thing we're sure of right now is... this. The two of us sitting under the tree. I bled for you, and you killed for me. What if we just got rid of everything? Everything that was locking us up and keeping us chained down?"_

_"I have literal chains waiting for me in Leavenworth."_

_Macy said, "Sarah Lucas does. Maybe Sarah Lucas didn't survive the train ride." She took Sarah's hand in her own and squeezed it. "Maybe Anna Macy doesn't have to, either."_

Sarah's hair was much shorter, held tight behind her head in a small bun. She wore a dress that would have brushed the ground when she walked, but was currently pulled up enough to reveal the laces of her leather boots. She licked her thumb as she turned a page, and glanced up as Macy approached.

"Afternoon, ma'am."

Sarah used a ribbon to mark her place in the book, and set it aside as Macy dismounted. Macy sat next to her, back against the tree with their shoulders touching.

"Have you had lunch yet?" Macy asked.

"I was waiting for my dining companion."

Macy said, "I should leave before the fella shows up."

Sarah chuckled.

"How is everything?"

"Everything is dealt with," Macy said.

Sarah nodded slowly. She'd given Macy all the information she needed to find the camp. The people who were left were reluctant to follow Deacon, and eager to help Sarah take revenge for his attempt at taking over. Macy had walked into the camp with a promise she was only there for Deacon; no one else would be bothered or arrested. They pointed her straight to Deacon's house and told her he was expected soon. After she dealt with him, the only thing left to do was say goodbye to the woman she had been.

Sarah, in the meantime, had gotten to know the people of Audrey. She'd introduced herself as Sarah Lamb, and explained how she had spent most of her teenage years helping teach the children of her town. She neglected to mention the "town" was a group of criminals who couldn't risk sending their kids to official schools. The town mayor was too desperate for a teacher to question her too much, and she taken a few weeks to get acclimated before she started classes at the town school.

"Town's already got a sheriff, I'm sure you heard," Sarah said. She looked over her shoulder. "What are you gonna do with yourself?"

Macy looked out over the town. She pulled up some grass and let the breeze take it, blowing it away from her. Harlequin, happy to be freed from the wagon for the time being, grazed happily at the edge of the park. 

"I don't know," Anna said. "But I'm not going to be following in my father's footsteps anymore. Whatever I do is gonna be Anna's choice." She reached down and took Sarah's hand. "And I get the feeling Sarah's gonna be a big part of whatever I decide on."

"That's good enough for now," Sarah said. She rested her head against the tree bark and ran her thumb over Anna's knuckles. "The two of us sitting under this tree."

Anna smiled. "It's a damn good tree."

"I didn't think so until you got here," Sarah said. "But yeah. It's definitely a good tree."

"Read your book," Anna said. "We got time."

Sarah opened her book, and Anna rested her head against the trunk of the tree. She fell asleep to the quiet sound of Sarah occasionally flipping pages, and the wind blowing through the leaves over her head. She'd been wrapped up in knots because the only route to Sarah she could find involved destroying everything about her life, throwing it all away and starting as someone new. She never would have dreamed that doing so would make her happier than she'd ever imagined.

She was eager to start her new life, to see who Anna Macy was without a badge. But the discovery could wait, at least until Sarah was finished reading.

**the end**


End file.
